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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28413861">Big Sister Mode (Beta Siblings AU)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birongodonga/pseuds/Birongodonga'>Birongodonga</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Owl House (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Siblings, Amity Blight Needs a Hug, Angst, Arson, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight/Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Kissing, Luz Noceda has ADHD, Mild Language, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:49:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>64,633</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28413861</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birongodonga/pseuds/Birongodonga</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Beta sibling AU. Lucia Noceda looked for her sister, but ended up finding her in the Boiling Isles, there she meets new things, new people, and an young green haired witch who needs support more than anything, they get along well, but as for her new friend's older sister? That one seems to want nothing more than burn Lucia at sight, and teach Luz how to do crime.</p><p>Or</p><p>Lucia and Amity are adorable and Luz and Amelia commit arson, also maybe some fanart.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amity Blight/Luz Noceda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>319</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>HELL YEAH BITCHES, BETA VERSIONS BEING 18 UP IS CANON!</p><p>I absolutely love the sibling AU, Beta Luz will be named Lucia and Beta Amity will be Amelia. For some reason i headcanon that Lucia and Amelia would get along with each other's little sister, Amelia just straight up adopting Luz and teaching her how to arson, while  Lucia is a good older sister and goes full protective on Amity.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Edit: I fucking forgot to say i headcanon that Lucia has her mother's accent, but less thick, basically an intermediate between the way Camila and Luz talk. You don't need to go along with it while reading if you don't want to, but that's what's happening as i write. It's not entirely random either, there's a few factors about Lucia's past that contributed to this, but mostly i just think it's neat.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucia freaked out when she found out her sister was not in the camp her mom sent her to, but the last thing she expected was to enter a world full of weird creatures, and demons, and magic, and-</p><p>"Geez... " Lucia shivered at the memory.</p><p>Sure, magic was sick and all, but all she really wanted was to be sure her sister was safe, and instead she was surround by monsters or whatever those creatures are, most of them acted like people, but imagine the bad ones, bad people, with magic, she nearly lost it when Luz told her she was thrown off a cliff with her friends before, back then Lucia grabbed at her own hair and paced around, anxious with the ways her little sister could have died.</p><p>
  <em>Eda stared in awe as the two spoke in a language she couldn't understand, this taller version of Luz barely got there and they were already making a fuzz in her house</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Podrían haberte matado!!" Lucia yelled in distress.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Luz shook her head and raised her hands in front of her "No no- estoy a salvo ahora!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They argued for whole five minutes, Lucia reinforcing her point about Luz's safety, and even though her little sister tried to reassure her, she ended up lowering her head in shame, she worried Lucia sick, what if something bad happened? How would her mother be? What would Lucia do? Those questions came out with the older girl's stress, but deep inside it was her way of showing she cared. At some point, Lucia's voice lowered, she looked down at Luz with so much worry and relief, and in return, overwhelmed by the things her sister said, Luz began to tear up, brushing the back of her hand on her eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Lo siento... " she spoke in a broken voice "Lo siento, Lucie!" she let out loudly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lucia immediately pulled her for a tight hug, softly caressing the back of her head as she let a tear of her own slide down her cheek. Meanwhile, King stared at them in concern, but once he looked up at Eda, she softly patted his skull, to see those two so desperately hugging each other, the love that emanated from them, it reminded her of her childhood with Lilith, and how she was happy that in Luz's case, their bond was standing strong, she wished things could be like this for her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Head upstairs, they have a lot to talk about" Eda told him softly, the little demon nodded before doing as she said.</em>
</p><p>Yeah, that day was very emotional.</p><p>Some things changed after Lucia arrived, she followed Luz around everytime she left the owl house, holding her bat over her shoulder in a clear display of "get near us and i'll bash you". It's funny when she thinks about it, since Luz is the complete opposite and would be checking out every new thing she saw, but Lucia had... Tougher times, and she just didn't like people that much, there were exceptions of course, but overall, she decided to make sure to not look helpless in a world she doesn't know, with creatures that have the power to airblast your face as long as they can draw a circle. For anyone who passed by, Lucia would glare, then Luz would slap her arm and tell her to be nice, but the older Noceda just couldn't help the scowl, it came instinctively with her protective nature, she had been like this since Luz was born, she wouldn't even let her be alone with older people at school, sometimes getting aggressive about it when they were younger.</p><p>Now thinking about it, she got in some trouble back in the human world too, she beat up three boys with nothing but her hands after they tried to rob her, she was left full of bruises and bloody hands, but they were the ones who needed medical assistance, that day was scary. She scared off anyone who even thought about bullying her little sister, she got in a few fights, not because she wanted to, at least not everytime, but because some idiots would come and either challenge or threat her, just to end up with at least one broken bone after she proved her bat wasn't just for show, well, her gym teacher did tell her she has some insane strength.</p><p>Lucia wasn't violent, only when she had to be, most times it wasn't her fault, so she can live with that.</p><p>
  <em>Most times, eheh...</em>
</p><p>Anyway, Luz was with her shoulder bag, ready to go spend the day hanging out with her friends when she realized Lucia was still following her "Luciaaa" Luz whined, just by the door "You can't come with me!"</p><p>Lucia looked at her with the same relaxed face as always "Watch me" she said as she continued to walk, but then Luz walked in front of her, trying to push her back, wich was a funny scene to watch since Lucia didn't budge and just stood there while Luz made a visible effort before giving up.</p><p>"No, you, can't. Last time you scared off people and an adult thought you were holding us hostage!".</p><p>Lucia chuckled at the memory.</p><p>Luz continued "Okay they do think you're really cool, but today was meant to be our thing only. And you're still holding that bat!" she pointed at the object.</p><p>Lucia pouted and gave her bat the side eye, she then lowered it and put a hand on her hip "But what if something happens while you're with them??"</p><p>"We animated the whole house once, and all Willow had to do before wrecking the bad guys, was touching a tiny root!" she said while crossing her arms "Plus, i'm stronger than before, we'll be studying too, something i'm sure you don't want to be part of. Eda wants to relax today and my friends wanted to show me something new they learned".</p><p>"Ugh... You little nerd... " Lucia sighed "And what am i supposed to do while you're out??"</p><p>"You can catch bugs with me!" chimed in Hooty, opening the door.</p><p>Lucia tried not to grimace, strangely enough, besides Luz she was the one who had more patience with him "Thanks Hooty, but today i can't".</p><p>"Okay hoot hoot!"</p><p>She turned her focus back to her young sister, who looked at her in disapproval "I mean, for example you wouldn't just wait for me outside of school until class was over would you?"</p><p>"Yes i would, i did it for a whole year after i finished school".</p><p>"You what?!" Luz exclaimed in disbelief "But everyday you said you were <em>coming</em> to pick me up!"</p><p>Lucia just shrugged "And i did! i just lied about the leaving home part since i was already there".</p><p>"How come no one ever said anything??"</p><p>"I threatened the gate man into staying quiet".</p><p>Right after she said it super casually, Eda laughed from the kitchen "Hah! I really like Luz's bigger version!".</p><p>Luz just brought a hand to her forehead "Luciaaa... "</p><p>"Luz, come on" she said impatiently "What do you want me to do?"</p><p>"Wait for me to text you around five pm, not <em>wait</em> while sitting a yard away, isn't that what other people do?"</p><p>"You mean normal people? Because we're both not normal".</p><p>"I know but... " Luz gave her a sad look "I've been surviving just fine, please, trust me when i say i can take care of myself, Lucie".</p><p>Lucia stared into those big puppy eyes, she first tried to avoid gaze, but fourteen years of coexistence with Luz taught her that she can't resist, specially when she called her that other version of her name, wich she hated by the way.</p><p>"Argh... Okay" Lucia grumbled, exhaspered, wich caused Luz to immediately open a bright smile and hug her waist "But i'll walk you there, and i'll still pick you up, you better not freacking forget to text me" she pointed at Luz with a frown "If human strangers are dangerous already, then imagine demon strangers with guns on their fingertips, i don't want the boiling isles having to create the Amber alert because of you, Luz alert in that case".</p><p>"Okay!" Luz let go of the hug and beamed "I love you so much! And i missed having you walking me around!" she said as they began to head to their destination.</p><p>Lucia huffed with a smile, she loved that little ball of joy so much too, Luz was the one person that could always cheer her up, and bring happiness to her day even in the most difficult times. They walked together the entire way to Luz's meeting spot with her friends, both Willow and Gus were already there, immediately waving at their human friend once she entered their line of sight, they looked so excited, and seeing Luz finally having friends warmed her older sister's heart.</p><p>Luz giggled as Lucia scratched her scalp, ruffling her hair then giving her the goodbyes. Just as her big sister was walking away, Luz spoke up, loud enough for her to hear "Oh, if you ever get bored, just go explore a little, this place is super weird and interesting, don't get lost tho!"</p><p>Lucia chuckled, then replied just as loudly "Alright mom!".</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p>Lucia spent part of her day sitting on the couch, but like Luz said before, she got bored. She enjoyed Eda's company, and that little demon who got mad when she called him cubone instead of King, but she just couldn't stay there, as much as it didn't look like it, she highly suspected she was also born somehow... different, not exactly like Luz who embodies the brain of a hyperactive squirrel and has symptoms way more noticeable than hers, but she just can't sit and do nothing, Lucia didn't wanted to stay in her phone all day either, she also tends to be impulsive, and because of the downsides it brought, she forced herself to change a lot of her behaviour, at least in front of Luz, to give her some example, but eventually she'd end up finding new games for them to play or teach her how to fight with a knife before their mom scolded her for it.</p><p>And even if she was the most chill person on earth, anyone would feel restless in that world full of magical beings, so if she just sat on the couch, she'd start thinking about Luz and how much she wanted to protect her and follow her around like a puppy, a very intimidating puppy. Instead, Lucia decided to go for a walk and explore, being stuck in the boiling isles is already something, might as well get to know the place in order to not get lost everytime she went outside. She notified Eda and King, took her bat just in case, and left the house, giving hooty a soft pat on the head.</p><p>She decided to pass by the market, it was one of the very first places she saw in the boiling isles, but she was trying to not freak out back then and didn't pay attention to her surroundings, but this time it was more of a stroll. She looked at the environment, noticing it was just as weird as she remembers, people were trying to sell her stuff, like strange food with eyes and whatever else were those weird artifacts, but she didn't have any money, or as they say, snails, so she'd just refuse and pass by, just looking at the merchandise.</p><p>She eventually had enough and left the market, going through what seemed to be a square, nothing interesting there, just kids playing, some of them very strange looking, but they were still people, and hearing their giggles brought a little smile to Lucia's face, it reminds her of Luz when she was just a small child. Finishing her little tour by that area, she wanted to go somewhere quieter, not full of people, so Lucia decided to wander into the woods a bit more, it looked kinda pretty in the afternoon, the path was full of trees, bushes, big stones, but pretty.</p><p>Lucia hummed, looking around and noticing what seemed to be birds, they had a different beak and tiny horns poking out of their heads, but honestly she found them cute, besides the witches, those were the most normal looking beings she's seen so far, this was a good place to chill. Still holding her bat, she sat on one of the huge rocks just laying there near the trail, bouncing her leg while appreciating the view, she spent some time there just fidgeting, until she heard voices nearby.</p><p>"This, is never going to happen" a female voice said nonchalantly.</p><p>Then there was a laugh, it sounded like another female, voice just a bit deeper "You sure? If it goes all smoothly, then we can definitely get a little closer".</p><p>"We never even spoke to each other before, i have no reason to get close to you, much less in that way".</p><p>Lucia frowned, standing up and looking at the direction it came from, she couldn't see anyone yet, the trees blocked the view around the corner, but she took a few steps closer in order to listen more.</p><p>"You sure about that? This witch got arranged to marry my cousin after our families united their schemes, and compared to your friends i'm sure they would find me more than fitting for you".</p><p><em>"This is getting weird"</em> Lucia thought to herself as she slowly began to walk closer.</p><p>"What are you even talking about?" the less deep voice spoke in clear distress "You literally waited until i was alone and came with this subject out of nowhere! You're making me uncomfortable" she said in a firm tone.</p><p>In response she heard a tsk "Oh stop the whining, Blight. I'll wait, just wanted to let you know of that possibility, but don't worry, i'll- "</p><p>"Don't touch me!" she heard, followed by a small slapping sound.</p><p>"You little- " the other someone growled "You damn convinced brat!!"</p><p>That was it. Lucia held her bat firmly and turned the corner, there was a young girl, short, probably around Luz's age, with her short green hair tied in a little bun, as for the other one, whoever that was, she was way taller and definitely older than this kid, and by the way their hands were positioned, and how distressed the smaller one looked, the green haired kid probably just slapped the other witch's hand away, gears moved inside of Lucia's head and she quickly recognized what was happening with deep disgust.</p><p>"Hey!!" she shouted, making both of them flinch and turn their attention to her, Lucia then extended her arm and pointed a finger at the other girl who was as tall as she was "Get the hell away from her!!"</p><p>"And who do you think you are?!" the older girl said, startled, she was either Lucia's age or slightly older "Mind your own business!".</p><p>Lucia scowled deeply, giving one of her creepy dark frowns "I'll give you ten seconds to run before i crack your skull open".</p><p>Meanwhile, the kid took a couple steps back, seeming alarmed but also trying to mask her actual mood "What are you doing?? I can- "</p><p>"Save it, short stuff" Lucia said without taking her eyes off of the creep "I'm not passing the chance to beat an asshole".</p><p>Said asshole fumed and drew a circle, summoning a fire ball from it, however, Lucia just smirked and positioned herself like a baseball player, she lightly tapped two glyphs attached to the bat, causing them to glow. Before they could even process it, Lucia threw an ice spell that culminated into a large stone full of long spikes, that grew torwards her oponent's direction at a terrifyingly fast speed, easily passing through the fire ball and going close enough to poke some of the creep's hair, stopping right in front of her face, basically, Lucia said through actions that she could have impaled this person if she wanted to, leaving the bully in utter shock. Taking the distraction as a perfect oportunity, Lucia lunged from around the ice spikes and smashed her bat right into the person's jaw, who barely had time to block the blow with a weak barrier before it hit, wich was probably why the impact didn't completely shattered the bone from it's original position, but she definitely heard the impact of something cracking as blood gushed out of her enemy's mouth, even tainting the tip of her bat.</p><p>And just like that, the older girl was on the floor, groaning from the pain and holding her bloody mouth, but despite the pain, she didn't stay there for long, she looked up at Lucia, who stood there omniously, bat in hand while her eyes glared with an expression that seemed unpredictable.</p><p>The bully finally noticed the round ears, and her expression couldn't have turned more shocked "A- a human? B-but how- ".</p><p>Lucia held her bat visibly tigher, causing the other person to wince, the human relished how she hurried to crawl back before getting up with little balance, running away with a wound that would certainly turn into an ugly purple bruise.</p><p>"Prick... " Lucia whispered.</p><p>"You're- "</p><p>Oh, she almost forgot that kid was there.</p><p>"A human?!" the girl said in disbelief, eyeing Lucia from head to toe.</p><p>Lucia stared at her, weirded out "Funny way to say thank you".</p><p>Meanwhile, the young teen walked around her as if analyzing her features and clothes, she then stopped in front of Lucia, holding her own chin with an focused expression that was actually adorable to watch.</p><p>"Another one?? How many of you are there? How did you even end up here?"</p><p>Lucia shook her head in refusal "Geez kid, calm down with the questions" she bent down, hands on knees so they'd be on a closer level because of how tall she was "First tell me if you're okay" she said in a casual voice.</p><p>"Of-of course!" the witch replied, suddenly self-conscious as she took a step back "Of course i'm fine, um, really. You didn't had to interfere, i could have handled myself!" she tried to put up a more professional face, but Lucia of all people wasn't going to have it.</p><p>"It doesn't matter, you don't sit around while a grown ass nobody harrasses someone, that's wrong" Lucia said with a light frown before straightening up her posture, no longer bending down. Lucia noticed how anxious Amity looked, refusing to make eye contact and fidgeting with her fingers, the older teen has seen that before, and she couldn't help but sigh at the scene "Hey, it's okay, look at me, i won't hurt you" she said a bit more gently, as "gentle" as you could compare when it comes to Lucia, Amity did as she asked "Need a minute?"</p><p>Amity nodded.</p><p>She then walked back to the stone she was sitting on before, Amity watched her, and after hesitating a bit, she ended up doing the same, having to do a little jump in order to climb it "That was scary... " Amity whispered</p><p>"I know" Lucia said, staring at the woods "Is it fine for me to ask what the hell that jerk wanted with you? She sounded like she was planning a political marriage" she said not really serious.</p><p>Amity was clealy not fond of the thought "That kind of was it".</p><p>"What?!" Lucia stared at Amity incredulously "How old even are you??"</p><p>"No no! I mean- " Amity raised her hands "I'm not marrying anyone, she was just... " when Lucia kept staring, she just exhaled loudly, holding her arms together as if hugging herself "Her parents are trying to do business with mine, and some families with those relationships tend to go for arranged marriage, but that's more complicated than it sounds, she just... decided get creepy about it".</p><p>"Ew... " Lucia said with disgust, poking her bat into the ground to clean off the blood, as if it was toxic "Nasty".</p><p>"I guess" Amity said blankly.</p><p>"Did she do anything bad to you?" Lucia asked, looking ready to run after the older girl if she had to.</p><p>"No" Amity shook her head "It's none of your business anyway".</p><p>"Gee, sorry kid" Lucia hissed.</p><p>Amity sighed at that, deciding to be more honest "She tried to touch my hair, but i didn't let her, that's when she got mad. I don't know what she was going to do after that, i mean, probably not much since i'm a Blight, and i could fight if i had to, but i don't- " she looked up at Lucia "I feel so... uncomfortable, but i should be better than this".</p><p>Lucia gave her a both understanding and weirded out look, softening her frown "How are you supposed to be <em>better</em>?" she quoted the last word "Dude it wasn't your fault. They harassed you, it feels violating, of course you're uncomfortable. That shit is not something to be taken lightly and i wasn't supposed to have to tell you this".</p><p>"Ah" Amity said, expression still alarmed as she looked down at her hands "I see". As a response, Lucia just hummed, they had a short moment of silence, before Amity started feeling guilty for her previous response, it came out on reflex "Um, hey i... My first experiences with humans haven't been... the greatest. You reminded me of them, so i got a bit defensive, i'm sorry" she looked up at the tall human in the eye, even if she'd rather not.</p><p><em>I'll ask Luz about that later</em>. Lucia thought "Don't worry about it" she shrugged, Lucia then brushed a hand down her own face "And look... I'm sorry for bashing her right in front of you".</p><p>"It's okay, i've seen worse" Amity reassured, wich somehow made Lucia even more concerned for the kids in this place "Thanks for defending me".</p><p>Lucia hummed in response "Now with that settled, i think we can start over" she joked, then offered a handshake "The name is Lucia, Lucia Noceda, and you?"</p><p>Amity first stared at her hand, raising an eyebrow at the name. <em>Is "Lu" a thing among human names? Does she has any connection with that other human or is it just a coincidence?</em> She wondered in her mind, clearly considering refusing, but Lucia clearing her throat seemed to snap her back to reality, she eventually took the hand, giving a light shake "Amity Blight".</p><p>"Nice to meet ya, Amity Blight" Lucia said in an exagerated accent while shaking the girl's hand more times than necessary, just to lighten the mood, and thankfully, Amity giggled before letting go.</p><p>"Can i ask now how did you got in the boiling isles?"</p><p>Lucia pouted, narrowing her eyes "Long story... Too long to tell you now, but there was a door".</p><p>"A door... ?" Amity raised an eyebrow.</p><p>"And there was an owl".</p><p>"An owl?"</p><p>"Yep".</p><p>Amity frowned in confusion, but didn't pry any further "Ah" was all the green haired witch managed to say before looking down again, the silence wasn't as awkward as she thought, but soon she couldn't take how quiet it was "How did did you do that?"</p><p>"Hm? What?"</p><p>"You know... " Amity then drew a circle, not finishing it since she didn't want to cast any spell.</p><p>"Oh, this?" she lightly lifted her bat "It's how i do magic".</p><p>"Really?" Amity looked at the glyphs on the bat, choosing to not mention how she had seen another human do it like that once.</p><p>Lucia shrugged, looking kinda smug "When we're told we can't do something, we just find a way to, it's what humans do. Tired? Invent a chair. Want to show another competing nation you can go beyond earth faster than them? Land on the moon".</p><p>"The moon??" Amity was baffled, giving Lucia the side eye "That's impossible".</p><p>"Can't reach the moon? Then build a rocket" Lucia grinned "It's a huge complicated machine that spits fire from underneath, then it fliiies up to the sky and into the space".</p><p>"But can you prove it?"</p><p>"Yep" Lucia responded, catching Amity off guard. She took her phone from her pocket and opened the folder with videos King enjoyed watching again and again, in case Eda wasn't there to leave the door open for wifi.</p><p>She first put the old, low quality video of the first man landing on the moon, and even placing a banner there, soon, Amity's skeptical face turned into pure mesmerise. The young girl couldn't take her eyes off the screen when Lucia showed her a bit of a satelite going around earth, then the video of an astronaut showing her room while floating around with her hair all up, Lucia had to explain to Amity that it wasn't magic, but simply science, and that there is no gravity in space, wich allows you to... well, not be attached to the floor.</p><p>The young Blight was impressed, she stared at the videos like a child seeing a phone for the first time, wich kind of is the case, Lucia knows they have scrolls wich serve as something like a phone, but they definitely didn't had access to human content. When Amity stared for too long, Lucia pulled the phone back and turned off the screen before placing it back in her pocket.</p><p>"Alright, Alright. Believe me now?"</p><p>Amity still seemed impressed "We know nothing about humans here in the boiling isles, no offense but... It's hard to imagine life without magic, so people usually tend to think you guys would be less uh... " she shrugged "Developed".</p><p>Lucia wasn't offended at all, in fact, she laughed a little "You really know nothing about us, but it's fine, i don't know that much about this place either" she gave Amity's shoulder two taps "But anyway, i gotta go to the library, i was giving myself a little tour since i have absolutely nothing to uh... actually i just remembered i don't know where it is".</p><p>"Oh! I was actually heading there too" Amity exclaimed, but then smiled timidly at how fast she spoke "I could guide you there, maybe recommend a few books, if-if you want of course".</p><p>"Hah! Nice" Lucia smirked, then she got up and offered a hand to help Amity get down from the stone "Lead the way, miss Blight" she spoke in fake reverence.</p><p>Amity first stared in awe, but she smiled back eventually and took Lucia's hand, pushing herself off of the stone "Okay".</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>"Woah" said Lucia in awe "I've never been in a library that huge".</p><p>"Wait until you see inside" Amity said in restrained excitement.</p><p>The second they stepped in, Lucia understood what Amity meant, talk about books, this looks like some beauty and the beast thing but even bigger. There were people using crystal balls like in a lan house, some sitting around with their books, and in the back Lucia could see books floating and moving in a line, her mind immediately compared it to the scene where tons of doors are out together in monsters inc.</p><p>Luz would love this.</p><p>The thought made her smile, but she remembered Amity was there and quickly fixed it, hoping the kid didn't notice and thought she was an even bigger weirdo.</p><p>"You probably... should lower that thing, or at least not hold it like that" Amity pointed at the red bat, Lucia didn't even notice she had it over her shoulder, with a quite unfriendly body language.</p><p>"My bad, force of the habit" Lucia lowered the bat as she was asked, and held it as relaxed as she could "So, do you want me to leave you to do your own thing or... ?" she asked awkwardly with, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>Amity's ears twitched "Oh! Uh, i'll just be taking a book or two, don't let me keep you from exploring. We can, um... " she looked around, searching for free tables, she eventually pointed at one that happened to be more in the back, it was a spot she liked "You can meet me there if you want".</p><p>Lucia nodded "Sure" she then went on her quest to explore the library.</p><p>She found a bunch of what seemed to be demon archives or something like it, it was like a drawer but with one eye and a mouth, looking up there was a flag written "demon decimal system", wich was fine she guesses, but then right underneath, it was written "do not feed", wich immediately made her smile mischievously.</p><p>
  <em>I'm gonna feed it.</em>
</p><p>She looked around, no one in sight, great. Lucia crouched in front of the archives and took a small candy from her pocket, she quickly unwrapped it and placed on the creature's tongue that was more than happy to munch it. Then suddenly, the archive demon whatever it is, threw up tons of paper on Lucia's face, enough to make her fall on her butt, this was amazing, she laughed as quietly as she could then left the spot before anyone saw her, if Luz was there, Lucia would definitely encourage her to break the rules and feed them too.</p><p>She walked upstairs, where the never ending and always moving line of books floated through the library, Lucia was in a spot she could just grab one of them and maybe even hang on them if the magic was strong enough, that would be really funny, but she kept herself from doing it, however, she knows just who would act totally on impulse and grab onto one of those, her dumbass sister.</p><p>
  <em>Geez brain... Luz is with her friends, and she's okay, don't forget she was the one who discovered how to do magic.</em>
</p><p>This was fun, but everytime she found the slightest new thing in this place, she'd think of how much she wanted Luz to be there, her sister would get herself in all kinds of trouble, and Lucia would be there doing the same, that was a side of Luz that her older sister encouraged, and the results were not always bad, sometimes she wonders why no one ever bothered to get to know Luz better, she was her sunshine.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, Lucia decided that was enough exploring for now, then turned back and walked torwards where Amity said she'd be. Well, the girl was there, sitting in front of an empty table and staring at a book while muttering something to herself, she only looked up when Lucia pulled the chair across from her and sat down, placing the bat against her leg under the table so her hands would be free.</p><p>"What you got there?" Lucia said while tilting her chin up, looking at the book Amity had in hands.</p><p>"Oh, this one is for studies, not that interesting aside from that. But this one is my favorite" Amity put it to the side before taking the book that was on her lap and placing it on the table, spinning it until it wasn't upside down for Lucia.</p><p>Lucia's eyes slightly widened at the sight, then she frowned in disbelief and brought the book to her face "You guys have the good witch Azura in the boiling isles?!"</p><p>"<em>Shh... </em>" Someone shushed her from somewhere.</p><p>"<em>Sorry</em>" she whispered back, a big smile spreading across her face.</p><p>Amity's ears perked up, and she couldn't help but smile back "You like it too?" she said happily, but then realizing how excited her voice came out, she cleared her throat and spoke a bit more calmly "I mean, what a coincidence".</p><p>"Well, yeah, i enjoy it, now you gotta talk to me about it. What do you think about the dynamic between Azura and Hecate?"</p><p>"It's... cool" she said, averting gaze, trying to seem uninterested.</p><p>"Cool eeh?" Lucia drawled, narrowing her eyes and bending forward, still grinning "Come on, i can tell you love this story".</p><p>A soft embarrassed blush tainted Amity's cheeks, and she gave in, smiling once again "Okay, i... I really like it, it's so interesting and endearing, their rivalry slowly snowballs into something intense, but at the same time there's the main plot in line, and i've been theorizing that someday they might unite forces, wich would be so amazing! Not to mention how it's narrated, because even though it's quite an unordinary way to do magic, i'm really into it and the authoress did a good job at describing and putting it to function in the battle scenes".</p><p>Lucia kept staring in awe as Amity rambled, sometimes she even struggled to keep up. It was clear that Amity probably didn't have anyone to share her thoughts, the more she spoke, the more passionate she sounded, slowly letting go of her professional bravado.</p><p>"And that's all just book three! I already finished book four but... i searched the entire fantasy gallery and others, but i couldn't find the book five, it's a human book after all, right? I'll have to wait until someone finds it among human junk and donates it to the library, but what are the odds someone would throw a book like that in the trash?" she looked frustrated now, anyone would be if they didn't got to know what happens next in their favorite story due lack of opportunity.</p><p>Lucia remembers when Luz's shenanigans began to turn into something worrisome for their mother, well, she can understand that her little sister was destructive sometimes when she lacked the sense of danger and common sense, wich is indeed something she should work on, but to not let the kid have her book when it came out? Because of that? Lucia fully disagreed with her mother's decision, she was the one who introduced her into the franchise to begin with, and Luz was so sad at the time, she just didn't let their mother see, however, Lucia got to witness it first hand. That book series is something that brought great joy to Luz, Lucia was really into it too while Luz had a massive hyperfixation for it, that's for sure, so of all things, why deprive her from it?</p><p>The next day, Lucia herself bought the fifth book from the limited early edition before it all got sold off, it cost her more money than expected, but her sister's mesmerized expression followed by a crushing grateful hug, was more than worth it. Lucia refused to read the book unless Luz was with her, doing the funny voices in a show of fun acting, overall, Lucia would do it all over again if given the chance.</p><p>That was when she snapped out of her trance and realized something while Amity shared her theories about the story.</p><p>Those two would be great friends</p><p>Lucia's expression lifted up in realization "Yes they would".</p><p>"Hu- what?" Amity said, confused.</p><p>"Nothing" she waved it off "I was just thinking of someone. Your age, huge Azura nerd, like you" she said, but Amity brushed the back of her neck in something similar to embarrassment "That was fun, we could do that again and i'd bring them with me. The more nerds, the better".</p><p>"Oh, um... " Amity faltered "Sorry, but i don't know what would be the consequences of me socializing with a human. I'm already breaking the rules with you" she said, playing with her hands repetitively, as if stimming "But... you saved me from a scary situation, i feel like i should at least not act like... well, how i usually do".</p><p>Lucia frowned "What do you mean? You're cool. Also, what i did was something anyone should do, you don't owe me anything, kid" she smirked, trying to lift a bit of the tension "I don't get what you're saying".</p><p>Amity shifted uncomfortably, grimacing before she took a deep breath, looking as if she regretted something "What i mean is, i haven't been... the nicest around those my age".</p><p><em>Oh</em>.</p><p>"I just- it's complicated. I don't know what my parents would think if they knew i'm associating with a human, since you're someone who can't do magic naturally like we do".</p><p>Lucia's smile slowly fell "They're strict on you?"</p><p>Amity looked insecure "They're not the most open minded people in the boiling isles".</p><p>"Really?" Lucia asked, Amity just nodded "They don't even let you choose who you're friends with?"</p><p>The young Blight answered with a shrug this time "My friends are children of their business partners, it's whatever".</p><p>"Damn, dude" Lucia looked weirded out "But they don't need to know if you befriend someone else, do they?"</p><p>"It's a nice thought but... It might be too late for that. I don't want to talk about this... " she looked down.</p><p>Lucia smiled "It's fine, you don't have to. But thanks for sharing".</p><p>Amity offered a weak smile, then gazed into one of the big windows in the library, seeing how the sunset was nearing "Sorry to cut the wave, but i really should head home now, the last thing i want is mom sending my siblings to come pick me up, they're annoying".</p><p>"Hm... " Lucia watched her intently, this kid's situation doesn't smells right, but the way she spoke about said siblings sounded genuine rather than just a way to change the subject "You live far?"</p><p>"Not really, but i go by foot so i take around ten minutes".</p><p>"Okay, then... " Lucia took her bat and got up "I'll walk you, just to make sure that prick doesn't come back or anything. I have somewhere to go after that anyway".</p><p>"Lucia, i can't let people see us" Amity reinforced with a frown.</p><p>Lucia chuckled "That's alright, it's actually not safe to let someone you just met follow you home either. I can accompany you half of the way if you want, so you feel safe and your parents won't get all judgy, you okay with that?".</p><p>Amity first stared at her with a mix of curiosity and attention, as if she was trying to figure her out, but kept her neutral expression "Okay" she said "That's acceptable".</p><p>"Ah, and hey... " Lucia began "You're going to tell your parents about what happened, right?"</p><p>"I... " Amity held her hands together "I don't want them to lose a partnership oportunity because of me. I'm a Blight, i should have handled it better" she said as if repeating what she had been told.</p><p>If anything, Lucia looked indignant "Amity" she got down to her level once again "What if god forbid they closed a deal, and that creep had easy access to you?" Amity grimaced, visibly uncomfortable with that possibility "They're your parents, <em>you</em> should be their priority. If they think Blights are so great, then at the very least they'll be pissed when they find out how that excuse for a witch treated you, if it depended on me, i wouldn't let it happen again".</p><p>She could feel the hesitation in Amity's energy, but she was visibly touched by the words, she looked down, unsure, but then inhaled and hardened her expression "Alright, i'll tell them".</p><p>Lucia smiled proudly and placed a light pat on the girl's head "Cool, i'm really glad" she said only half playfully "Now, lead the way".</p><p>"R-right" Amity's eyes were widened with shock, stunned and confused by the blunt and yet small display of affection, but it felt nice, so she just assumed it was a good thing and smiled with joy "And Lucia?"</p><p>"Hm?"</p><p>"Thanks, for everything. You're... cool".</p><p>"Don't mention it. And yes, i'm super cool".</p><p>Amity laughed "Modest too".</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>About our babies stature etc.</p><p>Lucia is 19 years old and 1,85 tall (6'1 in USA). Hell yeah she's tall, fight me.<br/>Amelia is 19 years old and 1,70 tall (5'7).<br/>Luz and Amity are 14 and 1,55 tall (5'1).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Luz meets someone new.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You might not be able to do it now, but you learned glyphs and made the conjuring with us. I'm sure you'll figure it out!" Willow encouraged Luz after the human had spent the last five minutes trying to copy a trick her friends learned.</p><p>"Yeah! I'm sure you'll do it at some point" Gus said in agreement.</p><p>Luz sighed, lowering her shoulders a bit, but still giving them a warm smile for their support "Thanks, guys. I guess i really have a long way to go when it comes to magic, but the day was still super fun, i couldn't ask for better friends" she pulled them for a group hug, wich they happily returned.</p><p>"It's getting late, dad said it would be best if the house was empty by the time he came back from work" Gus said "Are you going home by yourself, Luz?"</p><p>"Oh" Luz giggled "No, my sister will be picking me up, she gets pretty strict when it comes to that kind of stuff, i hope she finds the address i gave her" Luz said the last sentence with narrowed eyes, now wondering.</p><p>"Aww, that's so nice, she usually looks so scary and in a bad mood" Willow said smiling with curiosity "My big sister just leaves for hours then comes home with a people eating plant".</p><p>Luz gasped, bringing both hands to her own cheeks "You have an older sister??" she then gasped again, louder this time "You have to tell me more! Is she like... a taller Willow??"</p><p>Willow giggled "Well... "</p><p>Luz's phone's notification sound interrupted them, she checked the new text, and Lucia had typed <em>"I'm waiting, bonehead"</em>, meaning she was probably standing outside of her friend's house "Aw, right now?" Luz whined.</p><p>"It's okay, you might see her around someday" Willow said.</p><p>Luz gave her friends one last goodbye before taking her shoulder bag and opening the door, immediately coming to nearly bump into her big sister, who was really, really close to the door, holding her bat and staring down at her, if they didn't know this was Luz's sister, anyone would be worried. When Lucia looked at Willow and Gus standing in the back, they just waved nervously, she didn't really say anything but friendly tilted her chin up before just turning around, knowing Luz would follow her.</p><p>Luz slowly closed the door behind her while giving a nervous grin as she waved, she then moved to give a little jog to catch up with her sister, who ruffled her hair affectionately even though her face remained the usual relaxed-but-menacing expression.</p><p>"So, could you do it?" Lucia asked.</p><p>Luz slumped forward in response "Nooo... Bile sack is required".</p><p>"I knew it".</p><p>"Hey, have more faith!" Luz pointed at her "I was the one who learned the spell you glued to your bat- " she looked at said bat, and saw that is was lacking some paper "How was <em>your</em> day, Lucia?" Luz said in a suspicious tone, narrowing her eyes.</p><p>Lucia smiled "Fun?" Luz was still staring, so she just rolled her eyes "I didn't kill anyone. Just helped someone in need".</p><p>"You did?" the emotion in Luz's eyes shifted.</p><p>"I did".</p><p>"Oh!" Luz said, going back to smiling "That's awesome then! How was it like? Are you a super hero now?? Was it scary??? Did- " Lucia closed her hand and bopped it against the top of Luz's head, not hard, but just strong enough to push her head down and make her raise her shoulders, halting Luz from her questions.</p><p>"Chill, it was just a good deed, but it was cool, i nearly impaled this jerk's face" she said grinning.</p><p>Luz karate chopped the hand away from her head then frowned "Luciaaa! You can't just go threatening to impale people! Or else you'll have a wanted poster just like Edal!"</p><p>"I told you i didn't kill anyone!" Lucia retorted gesturing with her arms "This creep was scaring this kid and i had to do something! At least be glad i made good use of that glyph".</p><p>"You mean the glyph i discovered after you hit the slither beast and- "</p><p>"Uh what? I don't hear you" Lucia said, eyes widening and mouth pressed in a thin line.</p><p>"I said- "</p><p>Lucia bopped her head again.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>The next morning, Luz was up early unlike Lucia who can sleep until 10AM for all she cares, in fact Luz woke up with her sister's hand on her face, she simply slowly moved it back into Lucia's own space, funny, she won't wake up to that but if you open the door a little too loudly she will jump awake. They slept beside each other since Lucia was completely paranoid the first night and wanted to be there to protect her sister, but in the next days it was just because she got used to it and was too lazy to move her sleeping spot, Luz in her sleeping bag and Lucia on a futon that Eda thankfully didn't throw away, she was almost too tall for it, but luckily enough it was comfortable.</p><p>Luz put on her hoodie, then slowly slipped out of the room without waking her sister up, that being done, she brushed her teeth, washed her face, and smiled to her reflex in the mirror.</p><p>"Today, Luz, you will be making progress!"</p><p>"Who will be making what?" Hooty said right beside her.</p><p>Luz yelped and nearly karate chopped him again like the first time "Hooty! This is the bathroom! You can't come in here when it's occupied!"</p><p>Hooty then made a little <em>oh</em> with his beak "Sorry! And good morning!" he exclaimed while retracting his body out of the window.</p><p>Luz just sighed and went downstairs, being met by King, sitting on his baby chair, and Eda who was already up and making whatever that yellow grub is, probably what you can call scrambled eggs, just, different. Eda briefly glanced at Luz and smiled warmly at her.</p><p>"Morning, kiddo. Let me guess, taller Luz is not up yet?"</p><p>Luz smiled back and sat in front of the table beside King, he still looked half asleep "Her name is Lucia, and yes, she's still asleep".</p><p>"I still can't get over the fact she looks so much like you" King said groggily.</p><p>"We're sisters, King".</p><p>"Not all siblings look alike!" King pointed at her face.</p><p>Luz just giggled and gave him a pat on the skull "True".</p><p>He yawned "Wasn't that how she got here anyway?"</p><p>"Yep" Eda inserted herself in, dragging the <em>y</em> "I'm not letting Owlbert do that again".</p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Owlbert was sitting on Luz's shoulder as she showed him pictures in her phone, she also happened to show pictures of her and another human, smiling sadly as she did so, that unknown person was taller, older, and looked a lot like Luz, when Owlbert sensed her distress, he nuzzled her in a small attempt to comfort her, she lightly scratched his chin before releasing a heavy sigh. She started telling him about someone called "Lucia", how she acted, how she spoke, the fun and anxious moments they had together, and the more Luz talked about her, the sadder her eyes became.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I miss her so much... " Luz said while staring at a picture they were both smiling.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Back then, Owlbert just tilted his head, wondering what he could possibly do, and who this person was, he understood it was someone important to his friend Luz, that was clear, it seemed like he was just curious, but when Eda asked him to collect more human stuff a couple days later, he had an idea, a great idea, and went into the human realm more determined than ever. Puffing his little chest, he left the sack his owner gave him close to the door portal, and started his search for Luz's person, this would definitely make her happy, it's her family, just like Eda is to him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He knew where Luz's home was, he saw it before and remembered he met Luz when she was right in front of it, really close to the abandoned house, he looked through the window, no one in sight, so all he could do was look at every human face he saw around the area and search for a resemblance. Owlbert flied around for a long time, looking for any hints, but in the end of the day, he didn't want to go far, the human world has big birds that even attacked him once, well, he just beat them up with magic, but the area he was in had people walking around, so calling attention wouldn't be good.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Some time later, he grew tired and frustrated, he didn't find Luz's person, but maybe if he waited, she'd show up, human families live together too, right? Landing on the house's roof, he waited, and waited, until when he was almost falling asleep, he heard footsteps, followed by rambling.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"She's not there, she's not there, she's not there!!" she took her phone from her pocket, her other hand held some long red thing "Please pick up, mom, please pick up".</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Owlbert immediately perked up, it was Luz's family! He flew down and crashed on her face, earning a grunt as she lost balance and fell backwards. Lucia looked at whatever was the weight on her chest and met two very happy owl eyes staring at her, the bird kept crooning and getting in her face, she tried to shoo him as she got up, but he'd fly around her and land on her arms and shoulder.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Seriously?? Look- you're probably the cutest thing i've ever seen but this is really not a good time to distract myself!" she said in distress, managing to catch him mid-air with both hands and dropping the bad in the process, she then gave him impulse to fly, but he just kept flying around her and making cute owl noises "I'm not your mom! Go away!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Owlbert then frowned, if she wouldn't listen, then he'd make her, he caught the phone from her hands with his feet and flew towards the abandoned house, only stopping and looking back to see if she was following "Hey!! Give that back!!" she yelled as she picked up the bat from the ground and ran towards the palisman.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She chased after him, scowling and trying to snatch her phone back "I lose my sister and then i get robbed by a bird?!" once they were close to the old abandoned house, she jumped and managed to take her phone from him "Haha!" she laughed victoriously, but Owlbert didn't gave up, he pulled her beanie with his beak, only for her to pull it firmly "Not this time!" he then started pulling her jacket, then eventually pulling her by the hair with his beak, all while she complained and tried to scare him with her hands "Ow- Argh!! What's wrong with you?! You- goddamn you're strong!" she yelled, squeezing her eyes shut when he got too close to her face.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They were right in front of the portal at this point, so giving a determined look, Owlbert's eyes glowed yellow and he summoned a gust of air, pushing her closer, but she caught herself on the edges of the door, eyes widening in shock, trying to proccess what just happened, taking advantage of that, Owlbert took impulse, and flew into her head first, fully pushing her inside, she lost her balance and barely managed to turn enough to place her hands on the floor instead of falling on her face.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Eda still remembers her shock when a stranger just fell through the door, finding herself in the owl house, surrounded by an environment she didn't know.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Owlbert!" she scolded "I asked you to bring human artifacts, not humans!" in response, Owlbert made a little sad noise, looking down, so Eda sighed "Darn it... I can't be mad at you, you're too cute".</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What the- !!" the human shouted, pointing a red bat at her while sitting on the ground, slowly getting up and nearly falling "The hell is this place?!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Geez, and it's a loud one".</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Owlbert proceeded to fly in front of the person's face, startling her, he then sat on her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek, crooning happily as he climbed on top of her head when she frantically tried and failed to catch him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You- what are you- come on little bird!!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Eda's chin fell, Owlbert being fond of strangers is definitely not a thing, not to mention that-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You kinda look like... " Eda then gasped "Owlbert, did you seriously pulled her here because she looks like- " Owlbert frowned and made more little owl noises, as if retorting "She's- "</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You didn't answer my damn question!" The human raised her voice again, face contorting in fearful hostility, but looking way less intimidating with Owlbert sneaking under her... hat? "What is this place, and why is there an intelligent owl in my beanie?!" she reinforced, not lowering her bat.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>King entered the room with a determined look "The King of the demons demands to know who dares interrupt his sleep- " then when he and the human looked at each other, they both yelled in shock while jumping away from each other.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Cubone?!!" she screeched.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They heard hurried footsteps going down the stairs, and turning their attention to it, they saw a shocked Luz staring at the stranger.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Lucia?" she said in a slow whisper, like it couldn't be true, as a result, Lucia stared, then dropped the bat.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Well, Eda guessed it was no longer a stranger.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The events that followed were draining, to say at least. Luz only had the chance to say to Eda "She's my sister!" really fast before giving full attention to Lucia who was already having a whole aggressive monologue, they had a heavily-emotional-almost-argument discussion, getting so carried away they started doing it in another language, they hugged, cried, and only when they calmed down, Luz properly introduced Lucia to Eda and King as her older sister, things were going to be okay. Eventually Lucia understood Luz's reasons to want to stay and learn magic so badly, so she agreed to let her stay and not tell their mother she wasn't in the camp, but only if Lucia could stay with her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Owlbert then landed on a small table, staring at the two of them happily, looking very proud of himself.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>"Hope you don't show him any more relatives of yours, can't feed that many mouths" Eda joked, sliding the grub in each of their plates.</p><p>"I won't, promise" Luz laughed nervously, she notices some of the meal remained in the pan "Is that for Lucia?"</p><p>Eda confirmed with a <em>mhm</em> "Those are not as good once they're cold, but that's the price you pay for waking up late" she says with her chin up.</p><p>After their meal, Luz warned Eda she would be praticing magic until a bit before noon, and she'd text Lucia every now and then, also to confirm when she's heading back, since leaving early is one of the only ways she can get her big sister to not be following her around, not like she minded, but it's easier to focus when she's on her own, she also won't go that far anyway, Lucia understands it, she just worries about her little sister, but she's trying to learn how to trust her more, Luz is a smart and strong kid.</p><p>With her bag, Luz walked deeper into the woods, there was one spot in particular she went to once, to draw, and it's a good place to focus, the sounds in the environment aren't too much, just enough to not leave that uneasy silence, like that comfy sensation of being alone your house but having the television turned on as background noise, after some time, she reached her destination, no one around just like last time, and nothing seemed to have changed.</p><p>Luz sat down on a cut trunk that was a bit away from the other trees, and took a pen and some of the paper she had put in her bag, she then proceeded to do what she planned on doing first to start her research. Luz drew a couple light and ice glyphs, paying attention to the lines and how they connected to each other inside the circle, her brain started working, creating multiple theories and links to how they could possibly work and how she could discover other spells.</p><p>"Magic is everywhere. If even stars and snowflakes have their glyphs, there has to be more spread around the boiling isles, but how can i find them? It's not like there's glyphs all over trees and rocks, how close do i need to look? In what ways?"</p><p>She whispered to herself a bit in a ramble, taking notes, then going back to silence and frowning when her mind came to a tricky question, Eda told her that everything comes from somewhere, all she knew was that the glyphs came from the isles as direct influence from the titan's magic, just the evolution process of witches is interesting itself, she wondered why the pointy ears, wich species they descend from, because apparently some of the creatures in this place might have an ancestor in common, and witches like Willow and Gus look so much like humans, except for like the the eye, skin and hair colours, and the bile sack of course, whatever common ancestor they envolved from, the pointy ears either stayed or developed among the millions of years.</p><p>"Witch" is not really an species is it? Since she saw people and other creatures so different from each other who can all use magic the same way, so is Eda a demon? In human science they might still belong to the animal kingdom like humans do, but when reaching a class, not all of them are under the mammalia chart, so there might be some spot that puts all of them under the "demon" classification, if so, did witches like Eda envolve from a certain type of demon? one that resembles the human species? Or is she totally wrong and they're something else?</p><p>Damn, she was drifting off topic, Luz always does that, during conversations and basically all the time, she came to pratice magic but it's like the therapist told her mom, she often has difficulties with focusing on just one thing for long, so she'll try extra hard like she usually does, she shook her head and patted her cheeks to snap herself out of it.</p><p>After going back to her previous train of thought, she thought of searching for glyphs around the woods, but first she'd take a good look at the ice glyphs a bit more. It was going well until a smell of something burning caught her attention, she nearly lifted gaze to look around, but stopped herself with a scold.</p><p>"No, Luz, focus! Today you want to make progress on your own, forgot?"</p><p>She attempted to keep looking at the glyphs, but the smell caught her nose again, it was faint, but insisting, something is definitely burning, she lifted her head up and searched for any signs of something out of the ordinary, as ordinary as it can be for the boiling isles. Luz put her pen and the paper sheets back in her bag, getting up and walking towards where the smell got stronger, wich only a few seconds later she realized was stupid, so she started walking as silently as she could, squeezing through a few bushes as she passed by a denser part of the path, she also had an ice glyph in hands too just in case, what if there was a fire starting in the woods? Would be awful if it grew and damaged the environment.</p><p>However, the smell wasn't lingering anymore, but as she got closer to what she assumed to be the source, something else got in her nose, it was a lot like alcohol, but an stupid amount of it, either that or she was just too close to the smell's source. Luz held the glyph tight between her middle and index finger, if it was something sketchy, she'd run back to the owl house.</p><p>She stepped forward without thinking and tripped, nearly falling forward, she suddenly found herself in a small, but more open area in the woods, like the one she was in just a minute ago, Luz then froze as she came to face a stranger who was just in the middle of that space. Aparently they were both stunned while looking at each other, the person was holding a bottle in a position like it was being poured just a sec ago, but now it had nothing coming out of it, Luz quickly moved her eyes down to see a pile of things she had no idea of what they were, there was some paper, and some things inside of a sack, all smeared in the liquid, wich she realized was were the smell of alcohol came from, and the realization made her sweat.</p><p>Luz was completely tensed up, arms stiff against her sides like a robot and eyes wide, the person was a girl, taller and definitely older, the way she just froze up at the same time as Luz, and how her golden eyes gave the human a startled expression mixed with a scowl, basically screamed that she was <em>not</em> supposed to be there, and that she interrupted something that maybe she wasn't supposed to see.</p><p>
  <em>Yep! It's something sketchy!</em>
</p><p>The taller teen dropped the bottle and glared at Luz, straightening her back and adopting a stance that was as relaxed as it was menacing, just her expression had that "relaxed eyelids but knives in the eyes" vibe, and the few seconds they spent staring at each other felt like an eternity.</p><p>"Oh crap" Luz blurted out.</p><p>"Shouldn't have pried, <em>kid</em>" she said evenly, but growled the last word through her teeth, in a way it exposed one of her fangs.</p><p>"I gotta go bye!" Luz said super fast and quickly turned around, but before she could sprint back, she heard fast steps before a hand grabbed her shoulder.</p><p>"Oh no you don't. I'm sick of you people trying to- " the witch started, but Luz didn't let her finish.</p><p>"Nope!" Luz yelped, and out of reflex, she threw the ice glyph in her on the ground and it formed a barrier between them, catching the older teen off guard and forcing her to retract her hand.</p><p>Luz ran a bit, but when she stopped and looked back for a short moment, the ice barrier was already melting into wet broken chunks of ice, leaving her to see the older girl's silhouette as her frame came into view, surrounded by a huge amount of pink fire that not only darkened her shape in shadows, but also left her eyes highlighted as if the golden irises were glowing, all while the wind blowed her hair.</p><p>She truly looked like a real demon.</p><p>And it was just as terrifying as it was dazzling.</p><p>"Woah" she whispered.</p><p>Luz stared in awe, she was amazed, but once the person started walking in her direction, she yelped and ran as fast as she could, nearly tripping again in the process, but before she could go far, a column of fire was summoned right in front of her, but far enough for her to stop before running into it. She immediately turned around in order to charge in another direction, but ended up face to face with the scary witch, who had brought her face down to her level with a smug smirk on her lips.</p><p>"Boo".</p><p>Luz shrieked and fell on her butt, causing the stranger to raise an eyebrow at her then chuckle. In response, Luz quickly got up and took another ice glyph, ready to use it "Don't even try!" she exclaimed.</p><p>The older girl's smile fell, she stood there, studying Luz's features, but when Luz was about to use the glyph, the witch took one step back "Put that thing down, dumbass, before you hurt yourself" she said dismissively.</p><p>"Or what?" Luz threw the paper on the floor, this time summoning a long ice chunk that wasn't pointy in the end of it, it extended until it almost touched the girl's nose, wich seemed to surprise her for a moment, she even slightly winced back, looking at the ice, then back to locking eyes with Luz.</p><p>Instead of doing anything else, the older girl relaxed her shoulders and let out a light huff through her nose while tilting her chin up, smirking like nothing was wrong "Spunky" she said "A human doing magic, when i didn't even imagined i'd get to see one" Luz's defensive demeanor faltered, it was like all of sudden the witch's energy changed, as scary as she looked, there was not a hint of malice in her eyes.</p><p>Then, the taller girl simply turned back and began to walk away, leaving Luz totally stunned with confusion, but she also had the change to get a good look at her hair, now that her fight or flight instincts was gradually settling down, Luz finally payed attention to her appearance, pale skin, black leggings, a pink long shirt that ended a little beneath the waist like a dress would, and one of the most marking things, a stunning green hair that didn't go past her shoulders, Luz remembers noticing visible brown roots sprouting from it when they were staring at each other, and now she realizes how much this person reminds her of Amity.</p><p>Against her best judgement, Luz jogged forward and called for her "Hey, wait up!"</p><p>The witch sighed loudly then turned half of her body back so she could look at Luz "What?"</p><p>"I- " Luz started "What was all that about? You looked like you wanted to toast me!"</p><p>"Oh, that" she looked up without moving her head, then back at Luz, still wearing the resting witch face "Just wanted to scare the life out of you" she said grinning "You had to see your face" It was a sight most people would find creepy, but Luz could tell she was genuinely amused by her previous panicking reaction.</p><p>Luz stared at her, holding her fingers together and looking like an alarmed child after someone gives them a horrible scare on purpose "Why?"</p><p>The weak way she said that single word seemed to make the older girl feel like <em>maybe</em> she went a bit too hard, she groaned to herself, holding the bridge of her nose as she did so, before approaching Luz again.</p><p>"Look, i wasn't gonna do anything. There were a few idiots out there who would try to pester me, then i dealt with it, but i thought you were one of them trying to do it again, and i only realized you were not after i got a better look, just that, a simple misunderstanding, got it?" she forced a grin that vanished just a second before it came "No need to go crying over that".</p><p>"I wasn't gonna cry!" Luz stated, frowning "I'm not a toddler you know" she then crossed her arms, glaring up at the taller girl.</p><p>The green haired witch scoffed at that "Whatever, kid. None of that would have happened if someone wasn't prying on other people's business".</p><p>"I <em>wasn't</em>" Luz said genuinely "I thought there was a fire in the woods or something, i got curious, but turns out you were trying to burn down the entire forest".</p><p>"Guess what, i <em>wasn't</em>" she crossed her arms, repeating the way Luz spoke "The fire i used on the ice? Real stuff. That fire curtain you were so afraid of? That was an illusion spell".</p><p>"Huh?" Luz narrowed her eyes, she then quickly jogged back to where the fire barrier was, there was absolute no trace of it in the grass or in the bushes, not even a tiny scorch on the ground, Luz eyes then sparkled with awe as she looked back "<em>Woah</em>".</p><p>"Wha..."</p><p>In a blink, Luz had nearly invaded the witch's personal space, causing her eyes to slightly widen as she almost stepped back.</p><p>"It looked <em>so</em> real!" Luz held up her hands closed in front of her chest.</p><p>The other person didn't seem to know how to react, the sudden reaction definitely wasn't what she expected, so she displayed a nervous smile "Uh, yeah i guess? It's not that big of a deal".</p><p>"And the way you melted the ice like butter? Gosh, how did you manage to make the flames that strong without burning yourself?? I would <em>not</em> want to mess with you" her expression then changed to serious "I mean, i kind of already did, but i meant like, on purpose, i wouldn't do that, big no no" she said the last few words while moving her arms in what is an universal gesture for <em>no way</em>.</p><p>Stunned for the briefest moment, the green haired witch couldn't help any other reaction, she cracked open a smile and released some air through her mouth in a small "<em>Heh</em>", like a restrained laugh.</p><p>"You're like a wind-up toy, aren't you?" she commented.</p><p>The tension seemed to have lifted way more at this point, and Luz smiled brightly at the reaction she managed to get "Might as well be" she joked, following the taller girl as she began to walk again "What's your name?"</p><p>She hesitated at first, but concluded there's no way this kid is a threat "Amelia" she answered nonchalantly.</p><p>"And i"m Luz Noceda" the human said proudly.</p><p>"Okay, <em>Luz Noceda</em>. Are you gonna keep following me?"</p><p>Luz flinched in realization "Oh! Um, i didn't mean to bother".</p><p>Amelia gave her the side eye for a moment "It's whatever, if you don't nag me".</p><p>That brought the smile back on Luz's face, she seemed hyper now "You look a lot like someone i know, it's Amelia what?" Luz felt like she was in a Telltale game and chose the wrong dialogue option, since Amelia's expression became colder and she didn't even mind looking at her.</p><p>"Just Amelia, don't push it".</p><p>"Of course, of course" Luz nodded, not missing that detail, she then changed subject "Sooo, funny thing you didn't throw weird looks at me, people usually act all different when they see me do magic".</p><p>Amelia humphed "I couldn't care less, magic is what it is, why should i bother".</p><p>The more she spoke, the cooler Luz thought she was, Amelia sounded like the goth cold characters she read about sometimes, sounding and looking rude and indiferent, but not so much once their mind comes to light.</p><p>"You're staring" Amelia pointed out.</p><p>"I'm sorry, this is just one of my favorite tropes" Luz said without thinking.</p><p>"What?" Amelia grimaced in confusion.</p><p>"Oh nothing, nothing!" Luz waved it off.</p><p>The older witch then gave her a strange look and sighed "Why are you following me, kid?"</p><p>Luz pursed her lip, frowning as if it was obvious "I just think you're cool, and now that i know you don't plan on carbonizing me, you look cooler".</p><p>Amelia shook her head "How did someone like you even learn that ice spell?"</p><p>"Oh it's a crazy story, i was at The Knee to learn magic, and then the slither beast- "</p><p>Amelia spat air out "The slither beast?"</p><p>"Yeah!" Luz said brightly "Me and my- "</p><p>"Sorry, kid. But let's leave that story for another time, or never, who can guarantee i'll even talk to you again".</p><p>"And who can guarantee you won't?" Luz threw back just as determined as she smiled, earning a smirk from Amelia.</p><p>"Attitude".</p><p>They then reached the spot they just first met in, and Luz stood from a distance as Amelia approached the small pile of stuff "What are these things?"</p><p>"Dumb memories, useless objects, evidence".</p><p>"Evidence??" Luz tilted her head.</p><p>"Yeah" Amelia said while drawing a circle, summoning fire in the palm of her hand "Evidence against me, just harmless school stuff".</p><p>"Oh" Luz said a bit carefully, she then brought an open palm beside her mouth in order to whisper "I won't tell anyone".</p><p>Amelia just turned her face back at Luz, and smiled, both unconcerned and amused "No one would believe you if you did" With that being said, Amelia threw the fire on the pile, the alcohol quickly helping it to spread.</p><p>Luz looked worried "You're not just going to start a fire here in the woods, are you?"</p><p>"Only if i was stupid. I can just do this" she then stepped back and drew a bigger circle, that made a transparent, pinkish barrier surround the burning pile before fading as if it was never there. The fire consumed the objects, but it refused to touch the grass or spread, as if it had it's own will.</p><p>"Coool... " Luz said while staring at the fire "I wish i could do that".</p><p>Amelia eyed her up and down "Don't you have any other spells in hand?"</p><p>"No" Luz shook her head, looking a bit frustrated with herself "I only know two, i was trying to figure out how to learn more before i saw you. It's just not that easy for me" she said in a little more sad voice.</p><p>"Hah, i bet" Amelia responded "Don't you go to school with the other dummies?"</p><p>"Oh, no, i got banned from Hexside".</p><p>That seemed to have caught Amelia's attention, who shifted her gaze from the fire to look at her "Oh yeah?" she then couldn't help but open a wicked smile "Why?"</p><p>Luz proceeded to tell her about how she met her friend Willow, about her offering to pretend being an abomination, and how the whole deal with the top student star pissed Amity off to the point she jumped on their table and shook Luz by the shoulders in front of others. Luz did gestures and told every single detail of it, eventually sitting with Amelia in front of the fire that had lowered at this point, since the objects were turning to ashes.</p><p>"She freacking did that??" Amelia said, almost in disbelief and in complete amusement as Luz described Amity's behaviour "Titan, i know she overreacts sometimes, but that's just hilarious. Dissecting you..." she laughed with a hand not fully covering her mouth.</p><p>Luz laughed a bit "It was kinda scary, but i feel bad, i didn't mean to upset her or get her in any kind of trouble, that wasn't even the last time i did it".</p><p>"Oh?" Now Amelia was more interested "Go on".</p><p>And then Luz told her about what happened at the covention, Amelia couldn't help a snort as she held back another laugh "You challenged her, you freaking challenged her?!"</p><p>Luz pouted, then crossed her arms "It was on impulse, i wasn't thinking twice when she was mean to King".</p><p>"Ehehehe... " Amelia chuckled.</p><p>"We did duel, but my mentor made me cheat, i didn't even know but it was too late to go back".</p><p>She retold sorrowfully about when the cheating was exposed, and when it turned out Amity was also cheating, but she had her powers unfairly boosted up without her consent, when listening to that part, Amelia had a more serious expression, even seeming a little bitter, apparently she already knew what happened, but having the details from someone who was there is another thing.</p><p>"Then i ran after her and- " Luz sighed "She was there all curled up, and she didn't even look like she wanted to cry or anything, she just looked so tired, i didn't ask of course, but i wonder if that happened before... Then i tried to talk to her, and she said i made her look like a fool in front of the emperor's coven, <em>her future</em>" she quoted the last couple words, they made Amelia tense up for some reason "I had never seen her like that before. She just ended up demanding i admited i'm not a witch, and i did, but then i showed her this" Luz took a light spell out of her bag, then tapped it, making a small light orb appear "And told her i'm working hard to be one. She unbound the oath after that, well, she didn't had to, so i think that means something".</p><p>"It does" Amelia said surely "If there's something she values, it's hard work. I'm surprised you got her respect".</p><p>"Her respect??" Luz said, still doubting.</p><p>"Yeah, kid. You didn't read between the lines, but she respects your effort now that she sees it. She can still dislike you tho" Amelia said stoically "Quite a feat if you ask me. I knew someone had embarrassed her at the covention, i just didn't know it was you" she then looked at Luz with an unreadable expression, making the human girl gulp, but just like that, her expression hardened as she averted eye contact, she wasn't mad at Luz "And now i know it was the adults fault, it always is" she hissed "I never trusted Lilith".</p><p>Luz assumed it was a sensitive subject, but there was a question she couldn't help but ask, even if the reaction she'd get has the possibility of not being so friendly "You... know Amity a lot" she asked hesitantly.</p><p>Amelia closed her eyes and shook her head before giving Luz a bitter smile "I'm her older sister. Couldn't you tell?"</p><p>Luz perked up again, and felt a bit more comfy since there was no hostility "I could, but i wasn't sure, you were closed up about saying your last name and all... ".</p><p>"Amelia Blight, whatever" she scoffed "I just don't like being associated with that cursed name" They sat in silence for a short moment, looking at the little mount of ashes that now sat in front of them, just a few pieces still burning "But i guess it's clear you don't care about that, so it's cool to be treated like a person for once. Thanks for that, Luz" Amelia deadpanned without looking at her.</p><p>Luz also noticed that was the first time Amelia said her name naturally since this whole thing started, so she smiled to herself, feeling like she'd bounce on her feet if she was standing.</p><p>"Hey!!"</p><p>An unknown male voice startled them, there were two guards squeezing through the trees.</p><p>"So that's where the smoke came from! Surrender at once, you deliquents!".</p><p>Amelia quickly held Luz's hand and got up, pulling the girl on her feet as she ran "Let's go".</p><p>"Woah!" Luz said, running right behind her, she looked back to see the guards were chasing after them while telling them to stop, how did she found herself in that situation? "We're in trouble!"</p><p>"Not if we don't get caught" Amelia said way too calmly as she turned her head back just long enough for Luz to see her grin.</p><p>"Why don't we just talk to them??" Luz asked, raising her voice.</p><p>"They won't listen. Don't look at them and watch your step".</p><p>Luz gulped and did as she said, clutching to her bag and running as fast as she could in order to keep up with Amelia, who didn't let go of Luz's hand, this reminded her of when she did the same thing with Eda the first day she got in the boiling isles, but this time it felt different, she was terrified, anxious, and undeniably excited, she looked at Amelia's hand in hers, and opened a huge smile, she felt like nothing could stop her despite the situation they're in.</p><p>They jumped across rocks in order to slow the guards down, they heard noises of them clearly trying to do the same but falling in the process, looking back briefly they saw the guards hurrying to get up, and Amelia let out a loud laugh at that. Once they left the trail in the woods, they ended up in the market, bumping in all sorts of people and running past them.</p><p>"Sorry! Sorry!" Luz said to each person they bumped shoulders with.</p><p>They turned a corner, only to see that the two guards predicted their move and cornered them, one in each exit.</p><p>Amelia tsked, but quickly looked at Luz and yelled "Get creative, kid!"</p><p>On impulse, Luz's memories came to work in her brain, she took all the ice glyphs she had avaiable, and slammed them against the ground beneath them, making it shake like an earthquake.</p><p>"Brace yourself!" Luz warned.</p><p>A giant pillar of ice surged from underneath their feet, with so much force and speed it threw them across the market like a catapult, they screamed as they were launched in the air, they passed at least three rows of selling tents before they began to fall closer to the ground, in a quick act, Amelia pulled Luz close with an arm and drew a big circle, it made the ground raise in what was supposed to be half of what an abomination would be, the shapeless moving pile of dirt softened when they hit it, then hardened back as they bounced out of it, Amelia fell on her back as she landed from the half cushioned fall, dragging a bit against the ground until the force of the impact stopped for good.</p><p>Amelia had her eyes squeezed shut for a sec as Luz laid half on top of her since the green haired witch had held her, Amelia then removed her arm from around Luz, letting it fall on the floor, then they laughed, really laughed, loudly, so much that Luz almost didn't manage to lift herself up before being on her knees, hands on the ground. Amelia sat up, and her expression froze for a second before she wheezed from laughing.</p><p>"Holy shi- " Amelia was panting too much to finish the swearing "Could have killed us!" she said while frowning with an open grin before it lessened in a smirk as her voice calmed down "But that, was creative".</p><p>"Phew" Luz said, getting up as Amelia did the same, patting dust off of her leggings and back "I think we lost them".</p><p>"Don't slack off yet, they'll follow the direction we were thrown to".</p><p>"Well, we can't run forever!" Luz pointed.</p><p>That was when Amelia looked at Luz deep in the eye, and gave her a mischievous smile "Want me to show you something cool?"</p><p>Luz could have had a heart attack from how excited and anxious she was "Heck yeah i do!"</p><p>"Then come on" she gestured for Luz to follow.</p><p>Amelia searched the tents with her eyes, as if trying to improvise something, meanwhile Luz looked around in case anyone was coming, apparently, Amelia found something interesting, from a gloomy tent in particular. There were some kind of drinks, or potions in front of the tent, one beside the other in a line, and the red bubbling one in the edge, was the one to catch Amelia's eyes.</p><p>"Perfect" she said, snatching it.</p><p>"Hey!" the owner called "That's seven snails!"</p><p>Amelia simply pulled around ten coins, or snails as they call, and slammed it on the balcony, the owner of the tent gave her a thumbs up.</p><p>"Uhh, Amelia?"</p><p>"There they are!" one of the guards from before said as they got in their line of sight, this time there was four of them.</p><p>"Ah geez" Luz said, but not leaving Amelia's side.</p><p>Amelia didn't seem worried, in fact, her smug smirk was still there and her eyes relaxed "Get behind me" she said, and Luz did as she was told.</p><p>"Get them!!" some guard yelled as they ran towards them.</p><p>"Not yet" she deadpanned.</p><p>They got closer.</p><p>"Not yet... " she said before quickly opening the bottle and drinking some of it's content.</p><p>She waited the slightest moment, then...</p><p>Amelia opened her mouth and drew a circle that moved into a small spark inside of it, she then took the rest of the liquid, but leaving it inside her mouth without swallowing. The guards widened their eyes the second she pulled air from her nostrils, and before they knew what was going on, she opened her mouth and blowed an absurd amount of fire at them, it culminated into a massive gust of fire that was thrown right to their faces to the point they couldn't see what was in front of them.</p><p>The guards screamed in panic and turned their heads away, stumbling back and trying to shoo some of the fire with their hands and closing their eyes. Then just a moment later, the fire was over, and Luz and Amity were gone.</p><p>"Whe- where did they go?" One of them said. however, his companions were too busy slapping the spots in their clothes that had caught on fire, they eventually managed to put the fire out and started looking around.</p><p>"They escaped! The witchlings these days are a nightmare! Wait until we catch them and call their parents... "</p><p>Meanwhile, Amelia and Luz were hiding underneath a table covered by clothe inside of an empty tent, Luz had a hand over her mouth, while the older Blight simply had the resting witch face again. They heard the guard's heavy footsteps getting far, once they were gone, the two girls waited just a little, then finally sneaked from under the tent, looking around just to make sure the area was free.</p><p>"Fooled them" Amelia stated.</p><p>Then before she knew, Luz squealed and held her wrist with both hands like a child while she made tiny jumps in place "Yeeeah!! That was legitness!!"</p><p>Amelia's eyes widened as she stared down at the energetic teen "Yeah it was, huh?".</p><p>"You fire breathed them like a dragon! It was like- <em>wooosh</em>- and they didn't even suspected we were hiding! That was awesome and super smart, Amelia!"</p><p>Amelia just froze up, mouth slightly open as she kept staring at the shiny and adorable young human holding onto her arm, that kid was looking at her like she's one of the coolest people she has met, it was a look of raw delight without judgement, that made her feel something she was not sure of how to call.</p><p>"I think i just adopted this child" she blurted out quietly.</p><p>"Huh?" Luz tilted her head like a confused puppy.</p><p>Amelia then winced and averted gaze, bringing a hand to cover her face in shame. <em>I said that out loud</em>. She thought.</p><p>"Oh, anyway! That was cool! Very dangerous and i feel like my heart is going to explode, oh god" Luz put a hand on her own chest "But still cool! Please, let's not get chased by guards again".</p><p>Amelia rolled her eyes while smiling and began walking out of the market with Luz insisting to stick beside her "You were not that bad either. You did some quick thinking with the ice" her voice gained a little more emotion as she spoke "You're quite impulsive".</p><p>Luz held her shoulder bag a bit tighter in embarrassment "Yeah- um, it's a thing i do".</p><p>"Oh, don't cringe like that, human wind-up toy" she hissed and poked Luz's head "It saved our asses, show some pride" she said "I hate when people feel bad after doing something cool".</p><p>"Right, right. Sorry, it's just that i'm still surprised you trusted me in that moment, i'm still getting used to it, things were different back in my world".</p><p>"Hm, okay" she said plainly.</p><p>"What do you think would happen if we got caught?" Luz asked.</p><p>"I'd just have to show them my <em>i'm a Blight</em> badge, they would get scared and let me go, if not, then my parents would probably cover it up but i'd hate to have to deal with them, i don't really try to escape the guards".</p><p>"Oh" Luz narrowed her eyes "Then... why did you run this time?"</p><p>"Because i didn't know what would happen if you got caught, you were banned from Hexside, i have no idea of what else is on your record".</p><p>Luz stared, then her expression slowly changed as her brain processed the information, and she gasped in realization. Even though Amelia could probably have gotten both of them off the hook with her family name, she decided to not count on it, because there was no way for her to know if her influence alone would extend to Luz with one hundred percent of certainty, she simply refused to risk it.</p><p>"Oh my gosh" Luz looked at her with the <em>oh my gosh</em> face, palms on her own cheeks "Aww Ameliaaa, You caaare!".</p><p>Immediately, Amelia scowled, regretting ever saying anything and weirded out by Luz's reaction "The hell i do!" she barked "I just met you! Keep pushing your luck and see if i won't turn you in".</p><p>"Look at you denying!" Luz drawled with sparkles in her eyes.</p><p>"I- " Amelia groaned "What did i got myself into... "</p><p>"The magic path to friendship".</p><p>"There is no such- for the Titan's sake, kid!" she snapped.</p><p>"<em>Accept your fate</em>" Luz whispered loudly.</p><p>She grunted, too tired to discuss.</p><p>It took all of her will to not laugh at the things this kid was saying, if it was anyone else, she would have punched them into the sun just for talking to her more than she could bear, but this human was just so pure, and funny, and weird, and unafraid of her, that she wouldn't bring herself to do it, not to mention the fact that you can't punch children so why the hell would she do that. If for some reason she managed to tolerate Luz's presence in a good way, then whatever, so be it.</p><p>"So... Wanna learn how to set your breath on fire?"</p><p>"Yes!!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>They're probably going to burn something down eventually.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Luz is learning how to arson, while Lucia has a nice talk with Amity. They meet the Blight twins.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>No, Amelia is not a pyromaniac, i swear. Enjoy, and please leave comments.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Amelia was taking her somewhere less crowded, where she was sure no adult would bother them this time, Luz just gadly followed her around and analyzed every new creature she laid her eyes on. Amelia would ocasionally take a moment to look at Luz, watching the shine in her brown eyes, such a common looking colour, but it looked like honey once under the light of the sun, she seemed to be a really nice kid so far, and the contrast just utterly confuses the older Blight, she just doesn't gets it, they had that harsh encounter, but now it felt like the human has already gotten comfortable with her.</p><p>She didn't hesitate to talk to her nonstop, didn't look at her wrong for how she looked and acted, and if anything else she just seemed excited to get to know her more, in a way that is so adorable Amelia would have squeezed the girl's cheeks if they haven't met just that day, it's a funny and tempting thought.</p><p>"You sure your parents will be okay with this?" Amelia asked, starting to feel a bit concerned about Luz's lack of reluctancy.</p><p>"Well, it's not <em>my parents</em>" Luz quoted "Eda is all about freedom, she can be pretty chaotic too".</p><p>"Who?"</p><p>"Oh!" Luz opened a goofy smile, remembering Amelia doesn't know who she's talking about "My mentor".</p><p>The older witch hummed, and didn't dare to ask about her actual parents, who knows what's the backstory, in case there's any orphan stuff going on, Amelia isn't going to ask "Gotcha, but i could be taking you to the place i bury my victims and you'd literally be following me down the trap, how about that?" she said while feigning a creepy smile.</p><p>Luz laughed in response "A certain someone has been teaching me to recognize malicious vibes since i was five. I don't get any from you".</p><p>"Okay, so you have chosen, death" she said lowly.</p><p>That was a pretty morbid joke, but Luz still snorted "You were way scarier back in the woods".</p><p>Amelia chuckled, but then frowned when the guilt that had sprouted in her chest finally blossomed as they walked beside each other "Hey uh... I'm sorry about that".</p><p>"What do you mean?" Luz asked, clueless.</p><p>"For scaring you, what else would it be?" Amelia clarified "I was angry, well, always am, but if i knew it was just some human dork and not a jerk i wouldn't have done it".</p><p>"Oh" Luz looked down, but then gave Amelia a reassuring smile "It wasn't that bad".</p><p>"Oh yeah?" Amelia challenged.</p><p>"Well... " Luz begun, remembering the events of their first meeting "It's okay, you looked scary, but kinda pretty".</p><p>Luz gasped and covered her own mouth the second she realized what she just said. The sudden, yet genuine way Amelia raised an eyebrow and laughed just made it worse and she blushed in pure embarrassment.</p><p>"Excuse me?" Amelia asked light-heartedly.</p><p>"Oh god- i mean- ! Uh- !" Luz just started to bi panic and stammer, tripping over her words and not managing to form a single setence, Amelia had mercy on her misery and waved it off.</p><p>"Well thank you. Good to know i can do both" she said, whipping her hair with her hand.</p><p>Luz smiled dumbly while averting gaze, mentally kicking herself, she didn't want Amelia to think she was just a dumb fourteen year old who couldn't even hold her thoughts, wich is kind of what she is. Trying to distract herself, Luz thought of something else, she noticed Amelia was acting nicer now, still giving off that intense energy, but not like before, her eyes had softened too, maybe she was really angry back then and didn't mind having patience with Luz since they had just met, but now that they went through what the little nerd assumes was a bonding moment, much of the tension seems to have left the witch's shoulders, as if whatever was poking her seemed to be absent now, she also stopped calling her "kid".</p><p>They only took a few minutes before Amelia stopped "Okay, this is a good enough spot" she said "You ready?"</p><p>"I'm ready!" Luz beamed.</p><p>"Dork" Amelia laughed "Got the thing?"</p><p>Luz pulled a bottle full of the reddish bubbly liquid from before "Thing in hand, ma'am!" she saluted.</p><p>"Alright. You can't do fire spells yet, so i brought this" she said, box of matches in hand.</p><p>"Why do you carry those?" Luz pointed.</p><p>"Reasons".</p><p>"Can i keep?"</p><p>"Yes".</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>The owl house was oddly calm, Lucia had woken up an hour ago and was currently chilling with her phone, Kind was taking a nap, and Eda was using her cauldron to make god knows what this potion would be. It was a bit quiet but Lucia decided she didn't mind, Luz had been outside for three hours, and her older sister wondered if she was coming back.</p><p>Luz suddenly kicked the door open, startling every person in the house, Hooty didn't seem to care, he was just happy to see her.</p><p>"Look what i can do!"</p><p>Lucia watched as Luz drank some weird thing from a bottle she held in her hand, she then took and lighted a match she got from god knows where, and literally <em>put it inside her mouth</em> with the little space she had left in it. A half second later, Luz inhaled, stepped forward to be a bit closer, and then threw up fire not like a fire eater, but like a tiny flamethrower or something else as it spread to an amount bigger than the kid herself.</p><p>"WHAT THE FUCK!!!" Lucia shouted as she fell from the couch, the fire nearly catching her feet.</p><p>King eeped and stared, while Eda had a shocked and amazed look that slowly became a big smile, Luz managed to keep the fire going for around four seconds.</p><p>Once she stopped, Luz put her hands on her waist and grinned proudly "It's not exactly magic, but it's something new!" she then took a look at the scene, King surprised, Eda paralized with an open mouthed smile, and Lucia wide eyed on the floor, one hand grabbing the couch as she looked like she was about to have a heart attack.</p><p>"Now that's my apprentice!" Eda said genuinely.</p><p>Lucia was speechless, raising a finger as she got up, gesturing for her to wait, she then ran up to Luz "That's... Awesome!!" she yelled with a crazy smile.</p><p>"I know right?!" Luz yelled back. They both started babbling at the same time, Eda had noticed that it was something they had in common, what Luz calls <em>fangirling</em> or something, wich just means they were both freaking out.</p><p>But then Lucia stopped a bit to think "Wait... Who taught you that??"</p><p>"Someone really cool i met today! It started with a misunderstanding, but in the end we had fun!"</p><p>Lucia looked amazed at the same time she looked like she was going to pass out.</p><p>"Come on, kid" Eda approached them and put a hand on Lucia's shoulder "Chill a bit, she learned something new! Also, you'll have to rub that thing" Eda pointed down.</p><p>Lucia looked down at her shoe, and saw that there was a dark burn mark on the tip, she put her palms together, and took a deep breath, letting it fill, and leave her lungs, she then blankly smile at her sister "Luz, i'm gonna kill you".</p><p>Luz yelped and started running around the house with Lucia right on her neck, Eda groaned and facepalmed herself as King cheered like the little bag of chaos he is "Come on, kids!" she said.</p><p>"Get your ass over here!!" Lucia called as she turned the corner after Luz, knocking something on the ground.</p><p>"Any progress with the glyphs?" Eda asked casually while raising her voice, since otherwise she wouldn't listen.</p><p>"No! But i'm sure i will eventually!" she yelled back, grunting as Lucia tackled her to the ground.</p><p>"Yeah! Get her!!" King cheered. At this point Lucia was continuously bopping Luz's head with the side of her hand, seeming playful enough for Eda to not interfere.</p><p>"You frikin little pyromaniac!"</p><p>"I'm not a- Ow!"</p><p>It was a funny scene to see, the owl house has been full of these since Luz and Lucia came in.</p><p>The next day in the afternoon, Lucia was making egg sandwiches, or yellow grub sandwiches in their case, she thought about trying one of her mother's dishes, but with the ingredients avaiable, it was kind of impossible. Meanwhile, Luz was reading the Azura book out loud for King, who was surprisingly into it, Lucia glanced back to see that her little sister was even standing on the couch as she enthusiastically made her read.</p><p>"Suddenly, the door swung open!"</p><p>Then the door swung open.</p><p>"Ding dong ding! Hoot hoot!" said Hooty.</p><p>"The book came to life! Burn it!!" King spoke in fear.</p><p>Lucia just rolled her eyes "Go see what it is, i'm kinda busy".</p><p>Luz got down from the couch and walked to the open door, no one in sight, but looking down, she saw a basket with a little blanket covering it's content, Luz picked it up and placed the basket on top of the table King and Eda reunited in, Lucia also stopped what she was doing and approached.</p><p>"Eda, you got a package! Maybe it's a gift?"</p><p>Luz pulled the blanket to see a baby sleeping, making little strange noises as it did so, Luz just started walking away with a morbid look on her face when King exclaimed <em>"fresh meat"</em>, and Lucia just stared at them like they're both dummies, because they are, and then picked up the note that came with the basket, it asked for Eda to take care of the baby, King guesses eating is out of question now.</p><p>The owl lady was already talking about how terrible babies are and how she refuses to do it, but then Lucia read the part it said an award would come if she did, King found a few snails in the basket that made the older witch's eyes shine "Bat Queen?" Lucia raised an eyebrow "Who is this? Batman's wife if they were english?"</p><p>Luz snorted in the back.</p><p>"No idea of what that means, but the Bat Queen is no one more no one less than the wealthiest demon in the boiling isles" she said "Hah! That will be easy".</p><p>Lucia wasn't thrilled, but Luz seemed excited to take care of the child, fourteen and already sounding like a good mom, but Eda said she was going to give back the books she took from the library instead, Lucia suspected Eda just didn't want to share the money with them, wich turned out to be true. The owl lady asked Lucia to tag along, but the second the baby woke up, it started screeching so loud the house was shaking, Luz simply took the oportunity to leave right away, and guess who was going to stay and help.</p><p><em>Goddammit</em>.</p><p>Luz was such a sweet little baby, unlike this little demon, she didn't even want to get near it, at some point the baby bat started crying, and it went on, for freaking hours, Eda tried distracting it, offering snacks but it just kept crying, King has pillows covering his ears at this point, and to be honest Lucia had to hold herself back in order to not giggle at their misery.</p><p>"Alright, it's not good to ignore a baby's cry. Why don't you just, hold them? Maybe they just want comfort" Lucia offered blankly.</p><p>Eda groaned "I can't believe i'm doing this... " she then picked up the baby, wich immediately made it stop the crying, Eda then held them in her arms and mechanically comforted the little bat "Rock, rock, maternal gesture" Lucia couldn't laugh or else the baby would wake up, but she still let out a wheeze, this was pure gold.</p><p>Just as Eda held the baby, Luz walked in with a fulfilled expression and pose "I just had the best day!" she announced victoriously "Cool teens like me! Call me a library book cuz they were checking me out".</p><p>Lucia blinked, then raised an eyebrow "Who was checking you out?"</p><p>"The cool teens i mentioned! We messed with the librarians, gave one of them an existential crisis, and made the archives sneeze, we got kicked out after that!" she smiled fondly while recalling "It was super fun! I think they'd be a couple years ahead if we studied at the same school".</p><p>Lucia couldn't help but chuckle, she was so happy her sister was making more friends, and ones that know how to have fun "But did you also feed the archives?"</p><p>"Yep!"</p><p>"I knew you would" Lucia smirked, crossing her arms.</p><p>Luz then shifted her attention to Eda and the baby bat sleeping calmly in her arms "Ahh, Eda. You look so maternal!"</p><p>"Keep talking and i'll steal your tongue... " the witch grumbled back.</p><p>Luz wasn't deterred, much of the opposite, she approached them "Aww, but how can you say such things when you're holding this adorable little baby?" She lightly touched the baby bat, but right after it opened it's eyes, the little demon threw up another baby, that threw up <em>another</em> baby.</p><p>Both Luz and Lucia grimaced in shock at the scene "What are you, a russian doll??" Lucia asked. The three demon bats then flew higher and threw up fire at them, they all scurried away from the couch.</p><p>"Wow, isn't parenting a wonderful thing?" said Luz with a forced smile as she took her shoulder bag "Have a nice day with your life lessons, bye!" just as she was about to close the door, Lucia held the edge and forced it to stay open.</p><p>"Woah woah wait" Lucia started "Where are you going?"</p><p>Luz took a couple seconds to answer because she got distracted when one if the babies threw something on the floor in the background "Uh- around! We're supposed to meet at library at midnight".</p><p>"Midnight?" Lucia exclaimed, then ducked to avoid a fire blast "That's quite a late hour to meet with them, don't you think?"</p><p>"Yeah but... It's because a rare event is happening around that time!" she justified</p><p>"Rare huh?" she said with interest "I trust you, but i'm going anyway" she quickly ran back into the house and took her baseball bat from the corner before a demon baby could steal it.</p><p>"But- " she said as Lucia pushed her forward and closed the door behind them "What if they think i killed the fun by bringing you without warning?"</p><p>Lucia tsked "I'll keep my distance, promise. I'll just make sure they don't try anything".</p><p>"You're kinda overprotective sometimes... " Luz muttered, looking down with a cute grumpy face.</p><p>"No" Lucia ruffled her hair as they walked "I'm just responsible. Mom would kill me if i wasn't".</p><p>Luz laughed, that was true.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>It would take a few hours until midnight, but they just really had to go anywhere without those screaming baby bats, so they'd just be outside doing whatever until it was time to go.</p><p>Luz was all fidgety about how she should look or if there was anything she could do to look cooler in front of them, her older sister just watched, Luz didn't have a single friend back home, and now that new people took interest in hanging out with her, she's aware of everything and of every single movement of her own because she's just <em>not used</em> to it, Willow and Gus are sweethearts, but since the witches they'll be meeting are slightly older and "cool" in Luz's perception, she's overthinking, honestly, it's a little fun to watch.</p><p>"Yo" Lucia playfully bapped the back of her sister's head "The sun didn't even set yet and you're already rambling".</p><p>Luz sighed "Sorry, i'm just nervous".</p><p>"You'll be fine, there's no reason for the opposite".</p><p>They stuck together for awhile, but eventually separated to do their own thing, Luz was just way too hyper and kept dragging her older sister around, she didn't mind that much, but letting the young teen roam freely like the ball of energy she is might help calming her down, so they agreed to stay in the area they could find each other when they wanted, and went separate ways. The library would be closing early for the so called "rare event" Luz mentioned, but since it might still be open, Lucia decided to pass by before it happened, she just liked the atmosphere of that place, even if it was just to sit down and do nothing.</p><p>Just as she reached the front of the building, she saw a few people leaving, including two witches she recognized as the staff.</p><p>"Closed, i guess" she muttered to herself, however, she didn't leave just yet, a green haired girl walking down the steps caught her eye, and she knew just who it was "Ay, short stuff!" she called, standing just in front of the steps.</p><p>Amity looked pensive, staring down to where she stepped on, but her expression perked up at the voice and she looked around, until her eyes stopped on the human looking at her with a lopsided smile on her face.</p><p>"Lucia?" Amity said in a slightly raised voice before hurrying to get down the steps a little faster, she then walked up to the taller girl, just a little too close to her usual standards, so she took a step back "I um, the library closed" she said while pointing to behind her with a thumb.</p><p>"It's fine" she waved off "i just came to vibe".</p><p>"To... vibe?" Amity frowned a little.</p><p>"Ah- " Lucia chuckled "It means i came here to chill, you know?".</p><p>Amity seemed to understand "Oh, i see" she pulled a loose strand of hair back behind her ear "So, um, hi. Sorry, i didn't even greet you properly... " she averted eye contact for a moment.</p><p>"Well, hi" Lucia faltered a bit, she studied Amity's features carefully "Looks like you come here often".</p><p>Amity looked back at the building "I do, today i was reading for extra credit, but i decided to stick a little longer".</p><p>Lucia hummed "You mean like, reading for a class or something?"</p><p>Amity held her arm, looking a little defensive, but nodded "For children".</p><p>Lucia raised an eyebrow playfully "That's sweet of you to do, miss Blight".</p><p>"It's not a big deal" she huffed.</p><p>"Still nice".</p><p>"Whatever, i guess" Amity shrugged, showing a small smile at last "I see you still carry that thing".</p><p>Lucia lifted the bat just for show "What can i say? It's my little friend, for safety" Amity chuckled at the gesture, before letting her smile fall back into a neutral expression. She looked like her head was somewhere else, and despite the way she was talking to Lucia, she could tell the girl was in a bad mood "Something occupying your mind?"</p><p>Amity shook her head "Just school stuff".</p><p>Yeah, Lucia knew that was a lie "Do you wanna sit down or... ?"</p><p>Amity nodded "I suppose i have time".</p><p>They moved to sit on the library's steps, it was such a funny contrast to see, Lucia leaning back, legs spread and wearing that oversized jacket, not to mention the baseball bat resting beside her as she only cared about being comfortable, while Amity had her hair tidy, legs closed enough and a correct posture, at least for most of the time. No one would guess these two have any kind of relationship or interaction with each other, unless they were seen close like they are now, and even so, Amity still kept a small, but unecessary distance, wich made Lucia wonder if there was anything making her uncomfy.</p><p>Luz tilted her head, until Amity looked at her "Am i bothering you?"</p><p>Amity hurried to answer this time "No, no. I- " she sighed "There's something that has been bugging me recently" she admited.</p><p>Lucia supposes that's a step "Well... i'm all ears in case you ever want to share".</p><p>Amity grimaced, she was considering how much she should tell, or if she should even say anything at all, but Lucia made her feel at ease, strangely so since she wasn't fully aware of why, once she was done considering, she finally said something.</p><p>"There's this... person" she started awkwardly "This person just keeps approaching me for <em>some</em> reason, and everytime they do, i get in trouble, they tried again just today, but i turned them down before they could do anything. I just don't understand, they act like they didn't mean any harm, but the results just don't coincide, so i have no idea of what this person wants from me or why" she told as she ocasionally gestured when her voice got particularly intense, it sounded like this really took space in her head.</p><p>"Did they hurt you?" was the first thing Lucia asked.</p><p>"I mean <em>yeah</em>, kinda? Not really? She just won't leave me alone!" Amity continued, slipping the pronoun, but too into it to care.</p><p>Lucia looked at her in the eye and made sure the girl knew she was listening "You did tell her off, right?"</p><p>"Yes, but i don't know" Amity hugged herself, same thing she did last time when she felt unsure "She was trying to be friendly, maybe i was too harsh, or not" she then growled in frustration and placed a hand on her head, as if this issue was taking a lot of mental energy, was Amity that bad when it comes to people? "I don't know what any of this is" she looked up at Lucia, who blinked at the question before putting a hand to her chin and making the classical thinking expression, feeling a bit put on a spot.</p><p>"Since this bothers you so much, have you tried to discover what she's about, from a safe distance?".</p><p>"Safe distance?"</p><p>Lucia shrugged, looking at the view in front of them "Observation, watching, trying around and finding out. I don't know, how the heck are you supposed to get to know someone better?" she then put her hands in her pockets "Assuming how a person is, based on other people's opinions or misunderstandings instead of really seeing it yourself, is not really a big brain idea, is it? You can try to figure her out or... keep distance and stay with that doubt until you die, who knows? Maybe she's not as bad as you think, if she is, you can punch me later". When she looked at Amity again, she was making a face, narrowing her eyes and looking very amused "What??"</p><p>Amity kept staring "You say some wise stuff, i wouldn't have guessed just by looking" she said ambiguously.</p><p>Lucia dramatically pressed a hand to her chest "Is that supposed to appease or offend me?" she asked with a grin.</p><p>"I'm still on top of the wall" Amity blurted out in a moment of freedom, but the second the words left her lips, she half cringed at herself, feeling like maybe it was a stupid thing to do, she doesn't know Lucia <em>that</em> well, and the familiar feeling of incoming punishment made her heart race.</p><p>But Lucia's "<em>Pft</em>" sound beat her to it, she looked and sounded carefree, not hostile "Oh yeah?".</p><p>With renewed confidence, Amity tilted her chin up "Maybe" They sat in a comfortable silence, watching as the sun would start setting soon "I told them".</p><p>"Yeah?" Lucia's face remained relaxed, they both knew what this was about "And how did it go?"</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>To say Amity was anxious, was an understatement, she was so overwhelmed she couldn't eat, literally, she pushed a few spoonfuls of food down her throat, but the way her heartbeat increased and how her hands were on the verge of shaking, made it impossible. The first one to take notice, was Amelia, who glanced over at her through side eyes, but she remained silent, eating with her usual frown like she always did, as for the twins, they were not present, their class happened to offer extra lessons, and of course their parents encouraged them to go, even though they were probably skipping it and pranking around.</p><p>"Amity" Her mother's voice startled her, causing her to flinch "Your meal will get cold".</p><p>"S-sorry" she said. Gosh, why was she feeling like this? She has to talk to them, and the only chance she'll get is during this dinner, her parents will be busy for days after that and probably will dismiss any of her attempts to speak. She looked at her dad, who had looked up from his food to stare at her, gaze intense and relaxed at the same time.</p><p>"By the Titan, Amity" he spoke up, not loud, just imposing "Are you feeling ill?".</p><p>"Not really, i'm sorry" she said evenly.</p><p>Amelia looked at her again, this time actually turning her head before continuing to eat while suspecting something was up. Amity knew she had to say something, even if she got told off, she had to try, she doesn't usually feel this confident, much less to do something like speaking during a meal her parents were participating in, but... this time was different, Lucia gave her a push, and she decided to gather up courage, she didn't know what made her consider that human's words so much, but it was different, she knew it.</p><p>"So... " Amity began, keeping her voice straight and professional "I need to tell you something- ".</p><p>"No children speaking on the table, dear" Odalia cut her "We haven't inquired you on anything tonight".</p><p>Amelia bristled at the lack of consideration.</p><p>Amity pushed herself to go on "I can assure you it's important" Alador locked eyes with the teen and nodded once, as if giving her a chance even though he'd probably dismiss it if he thought it wasn't important at all.</p><p>"Important enough for you to disturb our dinner? Interesting" Odalia stated, they always think they know everything.</p><p>Amelia dropped her fork roughly enough to catch their attention "Let the kid speak, dammit" she growled.</p><p>"We will" Odalia finally glared at Amity, a look that wasn't simply expecting, but demanding, she was challenging her younger daughter to keep talking, under an unknown risk as she didn't even blink, making Amity uncomfortable, Amelia regretted her poorly thought reaction, this was not the first time she tried to support Amity and they got her sister under even more pressure just to spite her, just to show her that no one should try to insert themselves in their matters "And watch your language, Amelia. It's not appropriate for an young lady of your caliber to use such vulgar words meaninglessly" she said casually, both her and Alador staring at Amity.</p><p>Suddenly, she didn't feel so brave anymore, she shrunk a little on her chair, struggling to form sentences before an awkward silence settled in.</p><p>Alador probably thought she took too long to talk, then spoke before she could "Have you seen our most recent partner's heir? She's decent enough" Alador said, still holding his spoon as if waiting for Amity to just stop looking anxious so he could finish "Expanding your social circle would be beneficial, since you insist to keep it so small" he criticised "You could learn more with the company of someone more experienced".</p><p>What is he saying? It's not her fault she mainly walks with only Boscha and Skara.</p><p>The only reason she wasn't forced to hang out with even more people she doesn't like once she turned down her parents new offers, is because they think Skara and Boscha are an acceptable amount, she'll ocasionally be surrounded by a few more witchlings, but that didn't stop them from trying to insert more people in her social life among the years.</p><p>"Actually, that kind of has to do with what i- "</p><p>"Oh dear, are you finally leaving that stubborn attitude and becoming willing to make more connections? They could be important in the adult life, you know" Odalia said with a smile, actually sounding hopeful, in a strange kind of way.</p><p>"No i- " Amity raised her voice "That's not it. Something happened".</p><p>Alador chuckled at her attempt to be taken seriously "Oh, Amity. It's adult's business, i appreciate your eagerness, but you're far too young to present your views on that matter".</p><p>"Now eat up" Odalia completed without looking at her daughter.</p><p>The table was silent again.</p><p>Odalia and Alador, now reminded of their recent negotiations, started commenting with each other about the opportunities as they ate, while ignoring the dread on Amity's face, Amelia, however, watched her for a second before going back to eating, witnessing one of the countless times her sister has been shut down, just like she herself has been for years. It was a bitter, guilty sentiment the older sister had in herself, and with time, Amity adapted to that treatment, and Amelia sadly allowed her to stay quiet, like always, it was the reality they lived in...</p><p>Suddenly the three of them were startled and flinched as Amity slammed her two hands flat against the table, hard enough to make a their plates jump with a loud noise coming with it. Amelia was shocked, Alador was as surprised as he was incredulous, and Odalia had a hard scowl on her face, it all happened so fast, right after hitting the table, Amity spoke up from the top of her lungs.</p><p>"I'VE BEEN HARASSED!!"</p><p>It was like all of her anxiety finally came out, because she was panting. </p><p>Amity looked around, Odalia's face changed to something serious for the first time, and Alador's eyes had widened enough for them to notice, eyebrows slightly raised. She didn't know what it meant, but even though Amity doesn't know what those expressions mean, she does know she made herself heard.</p><p>"And i... " she went back to a calmer voice, suddenly feeling shy again, hands dropping to her sides as she calmed down from the outburst "I don't know what to do. That's all".</p><p>They stared at her.</p><p>Amity was about to sit down, but then Alador got up from his chair, pushing the chair back a bit as he did so.</p><p>"Who?" he asked in a deep tone.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>"It went surprisingly well".</p><p>Amity kept most details to herself, she only told what Lucia needed to know wich is a short summary, basically saying she told her parents, and even though she doesn't know if they cut ties with the other family as a result, her parents did use their power so the person who bothered Amity won't be able to get near her again, she didn't explain what her parents did, but Lucia has the impression the kid herself doesn't knows, she didn't mention Amelia or the uncomfortable dialogue either.</p><p>"Damn, dude" Lucia whispered once Amity was done "I'm proud".</p><p>Amity's eyes lightened up a bit "Really?"</p><p>"Really" Lucia smirked "You stood up for yourself, and you won. How do you feel about that?"</p><p>Amity still seemed a bit touched, in a good way "I feel... " she looked down, for a moment Lucia thought she was not okay, but then, Amity exhaled in a laugh, relaxing her posture and looking up to the sky "I feel powerful" she said like she hadn't felt like this in years, or ever "I was actually really scared, but i'm so happy it's solved".</p><p>Lucia didn't show it completely, but the statement made her heart swell, instead, she placed her hand on Amity's shoulder, the girl tensed at first, but then relaxed, Lucia gave a couple pats before sticking her hand back inside of her pocket.</p><p><em>Hey Luz, i think i did a good thing</em>.</p><p>"If you ever need my help to break someone's nose, just ask" Lucia joked.</p><p>"Okay?" Amity said, she was starting to think Lucia would actually do it "Well, i'll be on my way now, there's something i need to do".</p><p>"Alrighty" Lucia shrugged "Later, short stuff".</p><p>Amity rolled her eyes, smirking "Later, giant".</p><p>After Amity left, Lucia got up and went to look for her sister, who was actually doing the same, once it was almost midnight, they went together to the library, waiting for the "cool teens" to show up.</p><p>Lucia was just standing there and doing nothing, while knowing Luz was making some weird poses behind her in order to see if she'd look cooler, the older Noceda didn't look because she knew she would laugh.</p><p>"Keep going!" a female voice chimed in, startling Luz and causing her to fall "This is fun to watch".</p><p>Lucia turned around to the source of the sound, there they are, she assumed. She looked at them carefully, these two looked alike a lot, might as well be twins, dark green hair, golden eyes, taller than Luz, she does remembers her sister saying they're a little older, and... what the hell, are they related to Amity? They have to be.</p><p>"Luz, who is this?" Edric pointed at Lucia, who was leaning againt a column across from them.</p><p>"Oh uh- " Luz was nervous again "This is my older sister. Lucia, this is Edric and Emira, Edric and Emira, this is Lucia" Luz presented them to each other "She insisted in tagging along, er... "</p><p>Funny enough, they didn't seem to be thrown back by the older teen's presence, in fact, they let out a little "<em>ooo</em>" and approached Lucia, who at this point was just looking down at them as they surrounded her like she was some science project.</p><p>"She's tall" the boy stated.</p><p><em>No shit...</em> Lucia thought, already wearing her usual frown.</p><p>"You two are definitely her siblings" Lucia stated, unimpresssed.</p><p>"You know Amity?" the three of them asked at the same time, Luz sounding a bit more surprised, unlike the twins who were just curious.</p><p>"Mhm" Lucia nodded.</p><p>"Oh well. Are there any more of you, Luz?" Emira asked while watching Lucia.</p><p>"Nope! It's just me and her" Luz answered, seeming relieved they were intrigued instead of bothered.</p><p>"Are you two gonna... Stare all night?" Lucia asked.</p><p>Emira giggled "Maybe. I wouldn't mind" she then winked.</p><p>Lucia blinked, raising her eyebrows in disbelief.</p><p>
  <em>Did she just-</em>
</p><p>"Are you going to be the cool type of older person, or the boring one?" Edric said as he crossed his arms, he probably wanted to know if Lucia was going to ruin their fun like an average adult would or not.</p><p>Lucia humphed "Do i look like a goody-two-shoes to you?".</p><p>Edric and his sister looked at each other and nodded, smiling mischievously, seeming excited "Definitely the cool type. Must run in the family" they then looked back at Luz, who sheepishly scratched the back of her head "So, you ready to bring this whole, uh, whatever you were doing earlier, inside?"</p><p>Luz made an overly excited noise as she nodded, leaving her bag on the base of the column, Lucia didn't want to ruin the mood by intimidating her sister's new pals, so she left her bat leaning on the same column just beside the bag, for Luz, she told herself.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lucia: Haha intimidating teenagers into being better siblings goes brrr.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you all enjoy, please leave comments, they really motivate me to keep writting and i love to hear people's opinions on the story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The library wasn't so dark, the light of the moon passed through the glass, keeping everything clear enough.</p><p>"Look! The wailing star!" Edric pointed at the huge circular window on top of the huge entrance door.</p><p>They could actually hear the star literally crying, this place is really weird.</p><p>They looked around, waited, then Emira shrugged "Nothing happened".</p><p>"Look!" Luz walked to a bookshelf "I can swear they weren't glowing before" Once she opened the book, several birds emerged from the pages, flying around the library like real animals. So this was the rare event they were waiting for.</p><p>With that new knowledge in mind, the twins and Luz started to try things out, opening a book that gave them fancy outfits, and a bird, while Luz ended up with an outfit very similar to Cloud's, Lucia laughed with a hand on her mouth.</p><p>"Eheh... Final fantasy cosplay... " Lucia also tried opening a book, but when suddenly a gorgeous woman came out of it, giving her a smug look, she immediately closed the book and put it back "Nope" she quickly said, blushing "Not today" She heard the twins laugh from behind her, little demons.</p><p>Lucia mostly watched them from a certain distance, giving Luz all the freedom to have fun with the twins, kinda of felt like she was in a dog park, she chuckled as they started a snowball fight, she was glad to see the smile on her sister's face, laughing when Emira threw snowballs at the girl's face, clever, they were just teens playing around. Lucia decided to let her sister have fun, going to take a look at the sports section instead, she nearly got a soccer ball thrown at her own face, hard pass, she went to the science section instead, and found a book that summoned things like clouds, little fire tornados, and even tiny stars, forming shiny dots on the ceiling, full of constellations she didn't know.</p><p>"Wow" Lucia said, looking up at the lights "Now <em>that's</em> cool" she whispered to herself, admiring the things she found in that book.</p><p>Lucia had always been fond of science, it was the one subject she actually enjoyed, managing to study without the teacher forcing her to, she even won a trophy from the science tournment against two other schools, Lucia only did it because some racist imbeciles claimed she was too stupid to get the third place, and well, she participated, and won the first place, shocking everyone from her class including the guys she wanted to prove wrong, the look on their faces was priceless, just like her mother and sister's pride for the accomplishment, it was just as satisfying as if she had punched them, she still punched them afterwards, but it was good to show she was so much more than someone who wasn't afraid of using violence when she had to.</p><p>The science content of these books were different, but still reminded her of the very few good moments she had back in the human realm, she loved her family, but she really learned to not like other people. Realizing this whole thing was digging up a lot of memories, Lucia put the book back to it's place, and decided to go back to the dummies she was supposed to be watching.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p><em>No no no, this is bad!</em> Luz thought.</p><p>She did <em>not</em> expect the turn of events going on right now, getting in Amity's secret hideout is already a thing, now getting her diary to expose it? That was a whole other level of thing, bad thing!</p><p>Once she found it by accident, she swears she tried to hide it, but it was too late, the twins had already heard the mini Amity's voice and floated the diary away from her hands, now they were talking about tough love and how badly Amity treats people, and they'll put the pages around the school for everyone to see, why would anyone do that? Luz made it clear that she disagrees, and tried to take the diary from Edric's hand, but he didn't let go, in fact, they started fighting for it and pulling.</p><p>"She- needs this!" Edric struggled, both him and Emira pulling at the book, damn Luz was surprised by her strength.</p><p>"Put that shit back".</p><p>The three of them froze, Luz abruptly let go of the diary, nearly causing Edric to crash into Emira. They shifted their gaze to see Lucia standing in front of the hideout, one hand grabbing one of the entrance's edge, she was basically blocking it, to say she looked menacing was too little, Luz doesn't know how her sister does it, the rest of her face is emotionless, but her eyes just had something really serious and scary in them, not to mention that sometimes, her brown eyes almost looked red, and this was one of those times.</p><p>"Whu- what?" Edric said, confused.</p><p>"I said <em>put</em> that <em>thing</em> back!" She snapped.</p><p>The twins laughed "Okay, okay, geez, way to ruin the fun" He gave it to Luz, who let out a relieved sigh and put it back in the bookshelf.</p><p>"What the hell are you two laughing about?? I heard everything!" she started off already agitated "We all have some stuff we wanna keep to ourselves, usually because all it takes is the wrong person to take advantage of it over and over again until you can't take it and colapse".</p><p>Both Edric and Emira were silent, tensed up and clearly nervous.</p><p>"I don't know what makes you think, that invading your baby sister's privacy, and exposing her diary to people who don't know her, and don't even care about her, depriving her of the most basic straw of freedom she can have at that age, is going to help her to be better. Do you think slapping your kid across the face will make them love you more? Do you think public humiliation will make Amity see how much people are deserving of kindness and respect at the same time it's being denied to her without second thought? And do you really think there would be no major consequences after that?"</p><p>Luz stared at her sister, she hasn't seen her put that much work into words in years.</p><p>"We're- we're her family" Edric said.</p><p>"Then you should be protecting her and not doing the exact damn opposite!!" she raised her voice, making them wince, she then took a good look on their faces, they were clearly trying to mask how uncomfortable they were, Edric in particular was sweating a bit.</p><p>"You... Why do you think you know what's best for her more than we do?" Emira tried, weakly.</p><p>Now Lucia was openly angry, she then gestured towards Luz "If a kid you just met today is more compelled to protect her private thoughts than you two are, then what the hell do you want me to think??"</p><p>Their faces lacked the same mischievous sparkle from before, so Lucia sighed and closed her eyes for a short moment as she shook her head, remembering they're kids too, and if anyone is at fault for their behaviour, it's their parents.</p><p>"Look... " she said, less livid this time as she placed her hand on her face "That's not okay, way too far, even if she's being a brat, but that's your problem. I shouldn't have to be <em>telling</em> you that there's tons of other ways you can get to her without turning into shitty siblings, i didn't came here for this whole drama" There was a silence after that, Edric lowered his head as Emira averted gaze.</p><p>"Lucia, i- " Luz began.</p><p>Lucia raised a hand to stop her from explaining herself, softening her glare "I know, i know". What she meant by that, is that she's smart enough to know Luz wouldn't do such thing, she can bet her baseball bat that the twins were the ones trying to drag her into this. Suddenly, they heard footsteps nearing.</p><p>"What are you guys doing here?" Amity asked, looking as red as a tomato, wich was a sight the twins couldn't help but laugh at just a little before dying out when the older person in the room glared at them again "Lucia??"</p><p>"Shit" Lucia stepped aside "Hi... " she said awkwardly "You have a terrible timing".</p><p>Amity's first instinct was to look at where her diary was supposed to be, she closed her hands in fists and walked past Luz, eyeing the bookshelf closely "This is <em>not</em> the side i left it" she said before taking it and holding the diary against her chest protectively.</p><p>Luz was as nervous as she could be "Wow, uh... you got a sharp memory".</p><p>Amity wasn't thrilled, the twins laughed at Luz's lame attempt to ease things "You two are the worst!" she pointed at them, then looked at Luz in the eye "Did you read my diary??" she also turned to look at Lucia, with an expression that was heartbreaking.</p><p>Lucia grit her teeth and winced at the scene "Here it comes... " she whispered, she didn't want Amity to feel betrayed, so the first thing she did was deny "No, kiddo. <em>They</em> didn't had the time" Lucia tilted her chin at the twins, keeping her glare hard enough, Amity, however, still seeked an answer from Luz herself, but just looking at her made the human stammer as this situation looked really bad.</p><p>"I mean- i heard a single sentence but that was an accident! I didn't know that was your diary!" Luz said in concern, looking even more anxious when Amity looked hurt.</p><p>"You- " Amity hissed "Unbelievable!" she then walked off past Lucia.</p><p>"Amity!" Both Luz and Lucia called for her, only to be ignored.</p><p>"Oh well, that was... something" Edric said, scratching the back of his head "We'll um... We'll go mess with the goblins. You coming?" he asked Luz, not daring to look at Lucia.</p><p>"You guys are just gonna leave?" Luz asked.</p><p>Emira then shrugged, looking down a bit "I don't think Mittens wants to talk to us" she stated, now they didn't seem so sure of what they were planning to do back in the whole diary thing.</p><p>"Damn right... " Lucia snickered, crossing her arms and glaring at them like her own mother would do when she got caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.</p><p>"Okay you guys are cool".</p><p>"Mhm" both twins nodded in sync.</p><p>"But i'll go talk to Mittens- i mean, Amity" Luz corrected herself.</p><p>"Alright. I guess we see you around, cutie" Emira waved at her before winking and leaving with her brother.</p><p>Lucia narrowed her eyes in understanding, then stared at Luz with an amused smile as a deep blush showed in the girl's cheeks "Cutie eh?" she teased her sister.</p><p>"Just- let's go get Amity" Luz dismissed the question.</p><p>"Okay, okay".</p><p>Lucia looked back at hideout one last time, glancing at the "my favorite books" section, she saw the good witch Azura books in there, Amity really is a nerd, she still thinks Luz could be friends with her if she apologized for the misunderstanding, and speaking of it, she should probably just go already, Lucia should've known better, does Amity deals with this bullshit often?</p><p>Honestly, it's best if she doesn't get to know now.</p><p>She didn't rush her walk, giving long steps unlike Luz who ran off in the front, and well, by the time Lucia caught up with her, she was already calling for Amity, who didn't look happy.</p><p>"Amity, wait" Luz asked.</p><p>The young Blight groaned in frustration "First you embarrass me, and now you wanna be my friend? I don't get you, pick a side!"</p><p>Yep, she was angry, imagine if they had actually read the thing.</p><p>Luz gently grabbed the stressed girl's arm "Please, listen to me!" she asked.</p><p>"Just- go away before things somehow get worse!"</p><p>Lucia facepalmed herself, Luz sucks at this and Amity is too fierce, she didn't want to intervene between the two, but she'd give a hand just this one time, maybe Amity would consider if Lucia was the one speaking, she felt stupid doing this.</p><p>"Amity" Lucia called while still keeping a small distance, when she did catch the witch's attention, she lifted her arms a bit in a small plea "Come on, just hear her out for a sec".</p><p>Amity's eyes darted between the two, as if gears were spinning inside her brain, she eventually just gave up and let out a heavy sigh, shrugging her arm off of Luz's gentle hold, still frowning to show her impatience "Just get this over with".</p><p>Luz nodded and held her hands together, giving Amity some space, she glanced back at Lucia, who made a little gesture with her hand as if to say <em>"just go already"</em>. She took a deep breath and spoke up, looking anywhere but Amity's golden eyes.</p><p>"Look, i know we've been stumbling a lot everytime we're in the same environment, but i swear i didn't meant to upset you in any of these times" when Amity opened her mouth to retort, Luz raised both hands and continued "I didn't read any more than a verse of your diary, i didn't even wanted to find it in the first place, i put it back the second i had the chance, i swear. It's just that- your siblings are really cool and i followed their tail because i... " she paused a bit "Um, i don't have many friends, i know that sounds like a lame cliche excuse" she chuckled it out "But what i mean is that i had no idea of what to do when we started doing stuff i'm not okay with, but i wouldn't expose your private thoughts, i'm not that kind of person. I was hoping i could- um... " when she looked at Amity again, she still looked upset, but her frown had softened, and she was listening "The truth is that i just wanted to find a way to reach a common ground without messing up, but i couldn't even do that, i can <em>never</em> do that, that's one of the main reasons why i had no company back in my world" she started fidgeting with her fingers "But this time it was a misunderstanding, wait, last time was a misunderstanding too, and the time before that and- gosh i suck at this!"</p><p>"Yeah you do" Lucia muttered,</p><p>"But anyway!" Luz shook her head to drag herself back to focus "I'm sorry for not coming clean sooner, and for all the stress, just-... know i don't want us to be enemies, i'm sorry".</p><p>At this point, Amity furrowed her eyebrows more in a tired understanding than anything, she knew Luz was being honest, she had always been honest when she had the chance, impulsive, but sincere. She wasn't lying when she claimed to not know about cheating back in their duel, at least now Amity knows it, however, Luz still got her looking like a fool in front of the emperor's coven... but... that was her own fault too, wasn't it? She was the one who rejected Luz's hand when she tried to be civil, she was the one who needlessly stepped on that little demon's cupcake, wich was the trigger for Luz to challenge her, so blinded by the need to present herself as an unbreakable wall, by her prejudice against Luz as a human uncapable of naturally doing magic with her fingers.</p><p>Amity hates how the reflection comes in such a sudden moment, pulling all kinds of conflicting emotions, she just didn't want to show vulnerability, to show weakness, that's all, it wasn't supposed to have escalated like this, but it did, because for whatever reason, Luz treats her like she'd treat anyone else, having complete disregard for her social status, the duel was more than enough proof that she's just not held back by that, wich confused Amity even more.</p><p>Luz wasn't as bad as she had thought, was she? Just like Lucia said.</p><p>"Don't apologize" said Amity, finally fully turning her body towards Luz "It makes it sound like it was all your fault" she wasn't looking at Luz in the eye "If i hadn't kept my pride up like did, i could have prevented this".</p><p>Lucia grimaced in the background, noticing that the last part sounded like another way to say "i should have known better because i'm a Blight and i'm supposed to know everything", the same way she spoke back on the first time they met.</p><p>"No, Amity, you had your reasons, after how we started, i think it's pretty understandable" Luz hurried to disprove the girl's last statement, she then smiled, eyes full of sympathy "Your feelings are valid too. I'm just clarifying my side, that's all".</p><p>The emotion in Amity's eyes changed, touched by the words, she couldn't help but crack a short laugh, wich surprised Luz at first, but then she smiled brightly at the witch's reaction "And to think you're the same person who got banned from my school... " her laugh subsided, and so did her smile after she sighed, gathering back her usual composure "Okay, i get your side, Luz".</p><p>Luz's eyes perked up with hope, and she let out a sigh of relief while giving Amity a warm smile.</p><p>"I'm so proud... " Lucia commented dramatically in the back, interrupting their moment. She wiped an invisible tear away and grinned like an idiot when Luz chuckled nervously, while Amity simply shook her head at her dorky friend.</p><p>Amity didn't look sad or disappointed anymore, but she wasn't happy or super fine, she was just... tired again, just not angry this time.</p><p>"Would you look at that" Lucia then comically raised her chin and approached them, placing a hand on Luz's shoulder and the other on Amity's "My two children, growing so much".</p><p>"You're her daughter?!" Amity nearly yelled the question, wide eyed.</p><p>"BAHA- " Lucia let go of them and turned around as she burst into laugher, holding her stomach as her voice filled the library, she couldn't hold it back this time, but she at least managed to not laugh too loudly.</p><p>"Amity, no!" Luz frantically waved her hands and shook her head in denial "She's my big sister!"</p><p>Amity still had her eyebrows furrowed "That was what i thought before she said "<em>children</em>"! I don't know how you humans- "</p><p>"Don't talk about your own mother like that, cariño!" Lucia exclaimed at Luz with a crazy grin she was struggling to cover as she wheezed.</p><p>"Lucia!!" Luz clenched her hands into fists and whispered very loudly, blushing in embarrassment.</p><p>"I'm sorry!" She responded, not sorry "Sorry" she wasn't sorry. Lucia panted and straightened her back "Ami- " she nearly laughed again "Sorry to disappoint, Amity. I'll bring the adoption papers next time, okay?"</p><p>"She's joking" Luz told Amity, who slowly nodded at the scene.</p><p>"So you two really are relatives" Amity continued "I knew it".</p><p>Lucia coughed before clearing her throat, finally done with laughing, on the outside at least "So, Amity, was she the "person"... ?" she asked, pointing at Luz with her thumb, Amity confirmed with a nod, leaving the younger Noceda confused "What a small world, i knew it... "</p><p>"Um, i'm right here" Luz gave her sister an adorable glare.</p><p>Lucia just ignored the accidental cuteness and went on "Gosh... " she needed to get some sleep after that "Let's get outside already, one more minute in here and i swear i'll flip, go" she shooed them with her hands, urging the two to open the door, that thankfully opened from the inside.</p><p>Once they were out, the sun was already coming up, damn, they spent a lot of time in there but it just didn't feel like it. Lucia got her bat back and Luz slipped her bag around her shoulder, Amity went on her way, but just as she was about to get down the steps, Luz reached out.</p><p>"Wait!" she said, digging her hand inside of her shoulder bag "It doesn't make up for reading your diary, but here" she pulled her Azura book from the bag and extended her arm, offering it to Amity "Do you want to borrow it? I noticed you only had it up to four".</p><p>Amity took it, and eyed the cover for a quick moment before she looked at Luz in a soft, subtle way she hadn't showed before "Thank you" she said, voice quiet, but full of gratitude, she then turned once again, but stopped, and released air through her mouth before turning one last time "I know you said i had my reasons, but i haven't been the friendliest witch either... I'll think on that".</p><p>The two sisters lingered there for a little longer after Amity left, Luz seemed to contemplate the witch's change of behaviour, still standing on the same spot, feeling the presence of her sister coming to stand by her side.</p><p>"So, it's a cease fire?"</p><p>"Cease fire" Luz confirmed,</p><p>Lucia hummed "At least now, she knows that this <em>bonehead</em>" she playfully bopped the top of Luz's head.</p><p>"Ow!" Luz yelped.</p><p>"Is actually harmless" Lucia continued calmly.</p><p>"I'll show you harmless once i get some paper... " she threatened.</p><p>Luz then leaned forward, staring at Lucia with those big suspicious eyes "So you and Amity were friends this whole time?" she then crossed her arms "I feel like i missed something in that dialogue".</p><p>Lucia just scratched her head and tsked "Look, i wouldn't say <em>friends</em>, but i don't think there's any other word for it... "</p><p>"Huh... " Luz muttered "Lucia, what do you think of Amity?" she asked timidly.</p><p>"She's an edgy nerd" she blurted out right away.</p><p>Luz spat air out, laughing "Edgy nerd??"</p><p>"Yeah but... " Lucia thought for a moment, taking the question a little more seriously "She's a good girl, you just had a rocky start".</p><p>Luz seemed satisfied with the answer, and with that, they walked back home, with Luz pestering her sister with questions about her opinion on the twins, wich she would give short answers like "they're jerks".</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p>"Hey".</p><p>It was a late hour of the night, Amity stopped her reading, looking up from the book to see Amelia leaning against the edge of her room's door, crossed arms as she eyed her younger sister. Amity didn't pay much mind to it.</p><p>"Hey" she said, looking back to the page where she stopped. Usually it's Edric or Emira, she'd get mad and yell for them to leave and stop pestering her, but since it was the elder sister instead, she just dismissively greeted her back.</p><p>"Where did you get that?" Amelia pointed at the book with a tilt of her chin. Amity pressed her shoulders closer against herself on reflex, causing her older sister to smirk and approach her sister's bed after closing the door, sitting on the edge "I won't tell".</p><p>Amelia is kind of the only one Amity can trust when she says that, whatever she told the twins could and would be used against her "I borrowed it" she answered, turning the page, then, in a little spark of hope, Amity looked up at her and asked "Do you... want to read it?"</p><p>The older sister shook her head "Maybe later, i want to talk to you".</p><p>"About what?"</p><p>The monotone voice that came out from the girl's mouth did light a spark of annoyance inside of Amelia, but she swallowed it down, now is not the time for that.</p><p>"About what happened at the dinner table a few days ago".</p><p>Amity stopped staring at the book, no longer capable of passing her eyes through the words, she pulled the bookmarker and closed it, having the book on her lap as she gave her sister full attention "A lot happened".</p><p>"Sure did" she briefly twitched her eyebrows up as if to show the event mentioned was unexpected even for her, like it was for their parents. Amelia then turned a bit, so she could be facing her sister more easily "There's something i need to know".</p><p>Amity tilted her chin up as a "go ahead".</p><p>Amelia's eyes darted down to the mattress, then back to her sister, staring deep into the young golden eyes in front of her, making it clear that whatever it was, she wouldn't let go of it.</p><p>"Why didn't you tell me?"</p><p>That was the question Amity didn't want her to make, why hadn't she? She knew Amelia wouldn't brush her off like her parents did, she literally had to yell what happened for them to give a damn, so why, why would she prefer going through all of that torture instead of going to the person who would beat up anyone who bothered her?</p><p>"I... i don't know".</p><p>The answer certainly didn't appease Amelia, but she didn't scowl or press, instead she waited, and stared, hoping for more, something else instead of an answer that wouldn't add anything. Amity herself knew that there had to be more, the problem is that she genuinely doesn't know how to explain, but she tried, she struggled to, but gathered all the thoughts that could somehow express herself in words.</p><p>"Maybe i... " she continued, looking down "Maybe i thought, that- " Titan, it was so hard to say it "I wanted them to know" Amelia was smart enough to deduce a few things from the last sentence alone "I knew you could have solved this for me, but i think... i think i wanted to see how they would react to something like this, what they would do once i said it, and- um... I thought that maybe if i told them myself, i'd feel bigger".</p><p>Feel bigger, Amelia gets it now, she wanted to have power over somerhing, to stand up in front of her parents and have them being the ones to do something about what troubled her because of her own first step on the matter. Amelia could have taken care of it in the shadows, and their parents wouldn't know that the person they considered "suitable" might actually have been <em>this close</em> to harming their child right under their noses. Amelia was going to question Amity after dinner in secret, but the scene she put on with the shouting and slamming the table was entirely new to Amelia, Amity would never do something like this, there's a difference between snapping, and reacting aggressively on free will.</p><p>Amelia knew that too well.</p><p>"Did it work?" she asked, keeping eye contact.</p><p>And for once, Amity didn't need to spend extra seconds thinking of the right answer, a wave of sincerity washed over her, and with a dreamlike gaze, she sighed and looked towards the window in a rare, genuine smile.</p><p>"It did".</p><p>As much as this made her glad, Amelia still had a feeling that this was too out of the ordinary, sometimes you still should question sudden changes, even if they're good "But how, Mittens?" she asked, eyes observing every little movement she could possibly do, and the use of the nickname contradicting with the seriousness hidden behind her eyes "Where did that courage come from?".</p><p>Amity shrugged, wanting this talk to be done "I found strength".</p><p>It was a valid answer, but it opened a whole pandora box inside of the older witch's mind, Amity suddenly yelling during dinner, and hitting the table? She would never do that, not without a push, there's many things Amity would never do unless something encouraged, or forced her to, like when she ended her dearest friendship with that sweet girl Willow, and now, Odalia's "most disciplined" child is raising her voice and slamming her hand on the table to make herself heard, something caused this.</p><p>She gets that having a creep on your neck is definitely something to worry about, however, she could just have asked Amelia for help, getting her problem solved without going through the whole fit of talking to her parents and showing "weakness", she literally told them she didn't know what to do, and it was clear on her face that it was a situation that left her disturbed and fearful for her own safety, how vulnerable did she allow herself to be that night? She <em>chose</em> to face this unreliable option in order to get the fulfillment of being seen, of being acknowledged, a feeling they've been so deprived of, as if desperately saying "<em>Look at what happened, i matter</em>".</p><p>This strength was not suddenly found, it was given, something gave her a push, and even though she's not showing it, Amelia is boiling and biting herself inside for not being the one to have given her that push, at the same time she's glad her sister took attitude, she feels like she failed.</p><p>"Just- ugh... " Amelia held the bridge of her nose "That was some serious shit, you gotta tell me. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you, and this could have gone horribly wrong".</p><p>Amity averted gaze a bit, seeming a bit embarrassed "Okay, i'm sorry".</p><p>Amelia was always closer to Amity, but something tells her that they were not as connected as they used to be.</p><p>She looked down at the book that did not belong to Amity, and told herself she will get to the bottom of this.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>"I can't believe we'll be studying in Hexside!" Luz beamed beside her sister, who was not amused "TOGETHER!" she shouted the last part, causing Lucia to flinch.</p><p>"I'm only going because of you" she pointed at the younger Noceda who was still holding that paper with propaganda about the school.</p><p>"And magic" Luz added.</p><p>Lucia groaned, then nodded before opening the smallest of the smiles "<em>And</em> magic... " she slouched back into the couch "From a shithole to the other... I can't believe i finished school for this".</p><p>In an attempt to cheer her up, Luz placed her hands on Lucia's shoulder and shook her a bit "Aw come ooon, it will be fun! We'll be learning stuff together again, and cool stuff this time, magic stuff! And science! I mean, are potions some kind of science? They have to be, i know you like it!" she shook Lucia again, this kid was just too damn hyper.</p><p>"Dude- "</p><p>Luz then held her hands together and let out a dreaming sigh "Can you imagine it? Me, in Hexside, studying with Willow, Gus, and maybe even Amity" Just as she finished, something in her mind clicked and she dropped the paper "Amity, oh Cra-Amity!" she then quickly got up and roughly pulled her sister by the hand.</p><p>"Hey hey calm down! I didn't even got to nap yet!" Lucia complained as Luz dragged her towards the door, passing by Eda and King who were focusing on their trash pile.</p><p>"No time! We're supposed to meet so i can get my book back!" she went pushing Lucia out of the house before peeking inside again "I love you guys!"</p><p>"And love yooou Luz- " Hooty said only for her to close the door.</p><p>Lucia wanted to whine the entire way to the market, things were particularly noisy in the owl house that day and she was forced to wake up earlier, she didn't even had time to get her bat, but Luz was just going to get the book back so it's whatever, she guesses, won't need it anyway, and she was trying to get used to not carrying it all the time.</p><p>"Did i really had to come with you?" Lucia deadpanned with a grumpy face.</p><p>"Uhh maybe not, i was in a rush" Luz said, still holding her hand.</p><p>"Oh my god Luz... " Lucia groggily facepalmed herself "Are you even conscious right now?" Funny enough, Luz didn't pay attention to her question and instead started muttering to herself.</p><p>"Amity, Amity, Amity... Gotta find- Oh!" she stopped, nearly causing Lucia to bump into her back.</p><p>"Fucking- " Lucia started to grumble but Luz interrupted her, thankfully she didn't hear her swear.</p><p>"There she is!" Luz finally let go of her big sister's hand and ran off to the green haired witch's direction "Hey Amity! Luz is finally here!"</p><p>Lucia noticed the twins about to get in front of Luz, but Luz didn't, too distracted by the sight of Amity to realize her surroundings, this was going to be funny.</p><p>"Hi Luz!" The twins said in unison, scaring Luz enough for her to yell and fall on her back, making them laugh.</p><p>"Edric, Emira!" Amity said with a frown as she approached Luz and extended a hand "Stop bothering her!" she helped her to get up "Sorry Luz, they just came along for whatever reason".</p><p>Lucia just yawned, trying to drive the sleepiness away fom her, she approached them and watched the little demons of twins get all over their sister, all clingy and playful at the same time, she heard Amity mention it was to make up for what happened in the library, and Lucia got a jolt of satisfaction when Edric gave a little nervous grin once he saw the taller human get behind Luz.</p><p>"And we still apologize, everyday" he said with a pleading posture while leaning his head against Amity, only for her to push him back eventually.</p><p>"Good... " Lucia said lowly, startling Luz who yelped even though she knew her sister was near, she was really that distracted this morning.</p><p>Amity however, lifted her previously unamused eyes into something a bit more lively when saw the older Noceda come in scene, it seems like she has grown more comfortable around the two sisters, and apparently she openly likes Lucia's company, something just changes, but the green haired witch can't put her finger on it.</p><p>"Hi Lucia" she waved.</p><p>Lucia stopped creeping out the twins with her reddish brown eyed glare to offer Amity a lopsided smile "Hi little Blight".</p><p>"Are you okay? You're not carrying that thing, or looking like you're going to assault someone" Amity joked with a smirk, fake worry in her voice.</p><p>Lucia pressed a hand against her own forehead "I don't know... I think Luz gave me scrupple fever" Luz karate chopped her sister's arm, making her release a quick <em>ow</em> before glaring down at her, who knew the scowl was harmless and didn't back down "What was that for??"</p><p>"You know what that was for!" Luz retorted, scolding her with a motherly tone.</p><p>Edric and Emira watched the scene play out, Luz making remarks about how her sister shouldn't treat good behaviour like an illness while Lucia said it was a mere joke then threatened to bop her again, whatever that means, hey were basically bickering but in whispers. What caught Emira's attention the most, was how Amity first stared with an weirded out expression, but then ended up putting a hand in front of her mouth and restrained the sound of a giggle, still allowing her shoulders to twich as the scene made her laugh so easily, Emira looked at Edric and apparently, he noticed it too.</p><p>Amity then cleared her throat, stopping the two dorks in front of her from keeping on their silly argument "In any case, here's your book" she offered it to Luz, who took it back excited enough, Amity then simply crossed her arms.</p><p>"Sooo, what did you think?" Luz drawled.</p><p>"It was... " she clearly wanted to discuss about it by the way her eyes perked up, but then she turned her head to the side "Fine".</p><p>Lucia had seen her do that before, she started to think it was something she might do often. Luz then found an... extra page forgotten in her book "So fine you drew yourself with Malingale, the mysterious soothsayer?"</p><p>"Eheh... " Lucia chuckled, as Amity got completely flustered and drew a circle, making the paper crumble into pieces and dust.</p><p>"This is so cool! We could start an Azura book club when we're classmates!"</p><p>That caught Amity off guard and she raised an eyebrow "When we're what?"</p><p>"Surprise!" Luz beamed "I'm enrolling at Hexside!"</p><p>"Oh! Uh, sorry, it's just that, to be in my class you need to take an exam to prove you've mastered two spells" she said, taking the paper from Luz's hand and showing the requirements written in the back "I know you have your light thing. Did you learn anything else?"</p><p>"Aren't you forgetting things too soon, Amity?" Lucia spoke up before her sister could, propping her arms against Luz's head and resting her chin on top of them, causing the girl to lean forward with the weight "Hint, you've seen it before" Lucia then winked at her with a smirk.</p><p>Amity seemed to immediately recall "Oh! Of course" she then gently facepalmed her forehead "That was embarrassing... "</p><p>Luz just kept looking at Amity since she couldn't move her head, clueless "I always feel like i'm missing something when you two talk".</p><p>"Same here" Edric said.</p><p>"Same" Emira agreed.</p><p>"But anyway, i do know two spells!" Luz smiled brightly "Maybe i'm just that lucky!"</p><p>"That's great, because otherwise they would put you in the baby class" Amity turned the paper to show the picture of a baby witch chewing on wooden blocks, Luz grimaced.</p><p>"Oooh, brain idea!" Edric moved to half squat in front of Amity, then Emira moved to lean her elbow on Amity's head, making her slouch forward and press her hands on Edric's head for support, all while she had a very much annoyed frown in her face, Lucia just grinned to not laugh as the two families were now matching poses.</p><p>"We can train together and show you what we know!" Emira suggested.</p><p>Edric smiled up at the young Noceda "What do you say, Luz? And Lucia?" he seemed a bit more hesitant when he mentioned the taller human's name, they left quite the bad first impression on her days ago, and seeing how close she is to Luz, he sees it as a thin line to say at least.</p><p>Luz seemed excited, and she was already smiling with an open mouth as if to respond, but then she stopped, and turned her head to look up at Lucia, asking for permission, she would just have said yes if her sister wasn't there, but Luz didn't know what she would think after the library incident, just a minute ago she was frowning at the twins.</p><p>"Por favor?" Luz asked with her puppy eyes.</p><p>Lucia seemed almost too groggy to care, she looked at Luz, then at the three Blights, and just shrugged like giving up "Está bien, puedes ir" Luz immediately hugged Lucia around the waist, her sister just rolled her eyes and patted her head twice.</p><p>The Blight siblings all stared in a mix of confusion and awe, Edric was the first one to break the silence "I'm guessing that was an yes?"</p><p>"You can bet it was!" Luz said, finally letting go of her sister.</p><p>Lucia stared at the position Edric was in, she was sure it takes some effort to stay in that position for long.</p><p>
  <em>I don't like you, but i dig your dedication to mess with your sister.</em>
</p><p>"Nice!" he said, finally sneaking from under his sister.</p><p>"So where are we going?" Luz asked, trying to contain her excitement and failing miserably.</p><p>"To the Knee" Amity answered, removing Emira's arm from her head.</p><p>"Oh yes!" Luz beamed.</p><p>"Oh no" Lucia said with a morbid look on her face.</p><p>Amity seemed confused at the mixed reactions "Have you been there before?"</p><p>"Yeah!" Luz nodded "That was where i learned my second spell".</p><p>"And that was where i almost got eaten" Lucia crossed her arms, frowning at the memory.</p><p>Amity was going to ask what the hell happened in there, but her siblings interrupted her "Then, it's settled!" Emira said.</p><p>"To the Knee we go!" Edric exclaimed, pointing at some random direction towards the sky.</p><p>"Greeeat... " Lucia said not as lively, before just walking away like she was done with existing "Imma go get my damn bat all the way back in the damn owl house... " she said while walking away with her arms down like a zombie.</p><p>"Um... " Amity hesitated, narrowing her eyes.</p><p>"She's groggy from waking up early" Luz laughed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh my, the Nocedas will be hanging out with the Blights at the Knee, but it seems like Luz and Lucia have been there before! Next chapter we will see the story behind this, and you can expect some fluff envolving Lucia and "her children".</p><p>And yeah, no Otabin going crazy, Edric and Emira were too aware of Lucia's presence to vandalize the books in front of her.</p><p>What are your thoughts so far?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Amity has a nice time with the Nocedas, and the twins make some reflection.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Due to some personal stuff keeping me busy, it has affected the pace of my progress in this fic, so i'll go as i can.</p><p>Please leave comments, it is always fun to read the reactions and opinions, not to mention the rush of motivation it gives to the authors.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Dammit, this place is as cold as i remember... " Lucia commented.</p><p>She was using the same clothes Eda had given to her and Luz the last time they went to the Knee, a dark gray leather coat, black gloves, boots, and pants that were way warmer than the ones she usually wears, she kept her beanie tho. Amity and the twins wore warmer clothes too of course, but those were fancier to say at least, Emira opted for a fluffy hat, but Edric and Amity wore earmuffs, maybe their ears were sensitive, or they just prefered that instead of hats.</p><p>As they walked higher and higher up, Lucia helped bringing a sack Emira was supposed to be taking, but she and her siblings already had their back bags, so Lucia just carried it instead like the absolute chad she is, to make it easier. Setting up the tent was the easiest part, Lucia just had to help them with the base, after that the twins made some spell that turned the flat roll of cloth into something taller and organized, almost like a little tower.</p><p><em>That's a heck of a fancy tent</em>. Luz thought to herself.</p><p><em>Lol rich kids</em>. Lucia thought instead, they even had cooking utensils and little mattresses inside.</p><p>"Alright!" Luz said while rubbing her hands together "So what do you have planned?" she asked Amity, who was giving one last look at the book she brought with her things.</p><p>"I need to train until i can do the fire spell i guess" she answered, then proceeding to hold her arm "I'm trying to beat Ed and Em's highest score on the exam".</p><p>Emira sneaked up behind her and pressed a hand to her shoulder "That's impossible, Mittens".</p><p>"Yep" Edric chimed in with a smirk, placing a hand to Amity's other shoulder "She still needs to use a wand to learn new spells".</p><p>"<em>Anyway</em>" Amity growled, showing Luz the object she had in hands "I'll be using this".</p><p>"Ooo" Luz said, eyeing the object "You'll be going full Harry Potter?"</p><p>Amity raised an eyebrow "What?"</p><p>"She said she thinks the wand is cool" Lucia translated, standing with her arms crossed and saving Amity from the whole confusion hole that was their human references "Why does it look so... Techy?"</p><p>"What?" Amity asked again.</p><p>"She's saying it looks like it has batteries" Luz translated for her sister this time.</p><p>"Oh, um... it does, but it's enough for me to train until night" she eyed the wand in her hand "I'll just try it out a bit, then we can take turns to train with each other" she suggested.</p><p>Luz nodded in agreement while Lucia simply shrugged, it was always fun to see the contrast between these two.</p><p>They watched Amity try the spell, she held the book open with one hand, reading a note on same page before closing it against her chest and drawing a big circle, then pointed it at a tree's direction, for a short moment, they saw a pink ball of fire form on the tip of the wand before it it was shot straight at the tree, impressive enough, it formed quite the explosion and burned the entire thing, poor tree.</p><p>"Woah" Luz said "Your fire is pink, so pretty!"</p><p>Amity's eyes widened at the statement, and a light shade of red made it's way to her cheeks, she didn't turn back to avoid letting her siblings see it, but she did turn her head just a little bit and muttered a shy "Thanks".</p><p>Now that Luz thought about it, Amelia's fire was also pink wasn't it? It wasn't pink when she did the firebreath trick, maybe because it was more of a reaction with the potion instead of magic from her bile sack, she'll take a note on that, anyway, Amity and Amelia had the same fire colour, cute, she wondered if Edric and Emira's would be blue.</p><p>"Okay, i think that's good enough. I'm ready" Amity said.</p><p>She started with her siblings, going on a slower pace, she threw a shot of fire towards Edric and he easily dodged, Emira then drew a circle, summoning a hand shaped mount of snow that threw itself on Amity, but she quickly drew a circle with the wand and summoned a pink transparent barrier.</p><p>"Got your glyphs ready?" Lucia whispered to Luz as they watched.</p><p>"Mhm!" she responded "What about you?"</p><p>Lucia grinned and held her bat over her shoulder, it was full of glyphs attached to it "All good".</p><p>"Luz!" Edric called "Your turn, we'll go with Lucia".</p><p>"Oh! Right, right" Luz hurried to approach the younger Blight as the twins and Lucia took some distance from them and prepared for their own session.</p><p>"Alright then" Amity hesitated a bit "Show me what you got".</p><p>Amity drew a circle and summoned another fireball, Luz already had a glyph in hands at this point, she tapped the drawing and threw it in front of herself, wich made a small ice wall just as tall as Luz rise in front of her, just in time to block the fire spell. Trying to do something new, Luz pulled another ice glyph and pressed it against the pillar with the drawing facing it, and just like she wanted, it made a long pillar of ice extend vertically though the ice wall and towards Amity's direction, however, she jumped to the side and dodged, proceeding to draw a bigger circle that summoned an explosion strong enough to break the ice in front of Luz.</p><p>"Not bad" Amity said with a smirk.</p><p>"Same to you" Luz threw back with just as much determination.</p><p>While they had their fair sparring session, the twins were going quite hard on Lucia, on purpose, doing different spells with little recovery time. Lucia pulled a glyph from her pocket and tapped it, but before the ice could form, she crushed the paper in her hand and threw it upwards, by the time it fell, the paper was already morphing into ice, she hit it strong with the bat like a ball, making several chunks of ice fly to Emira's direction, she had to jump far in order to not get hit, meanwhile, Edric was already casting another spell, before Lucia knew, a thick amount of snow came from her side, but that left him open, Lucia sprinted forward with a light glyph in her hand, and summoned a flash right on his face.</p><p>Edric squeezed his eyes shut and tried to protect himself with his arms on reflex, groaning as the light blinded him, when he finally opened his eyes, Lucia was bending down in front of him, she then lightly tapped her bat on top of his head with a smug smile on her face.</p><p>"Gotcha" she said.</p><p>"Aw... " Edric then pouted and looked down in defeat.</p><p>Suddenly, a huge amount of snow hit Lucia, causing her to grunt as she was pushed against the ground, falling on her back. Once she shook her head and looked at where it came from, she saw Emira giggling.</p><p>"I think i got you now" she teased "Forgot about me?"</p><p>Lucia quickly recovered and flashed her a grin as she sat up "I'm just getting started" she quickly got up and held her bat tighter "Bring it on, you little demons".</p><p>With renewed excitement, both witches went back to their previous stances, ready to come at the tall human.</p><p>Meanwhile, Amity and Luz were doing a slower paced thing, giving each other a fair amount of time to think on small strategies. They even took a moment to glance at their older siblings, who were way too excited about this training thing.</p><p>"Damn, they're really going for it" Luz said, raising both eyebrows.</p><p>Amity chuckled "I guess so. I just hope they don't kill each other" Just as she said that, Lucia summoned a long pillar of ice that hit Emira strong enough to push her backwards against the snow under them, in retaliation, she drew a circle and hit Lucia straight in the nose with a small rock.</p><p>"Ow!" Lucia yelped, covering her nose.</p><p>"Yep, i hope" Luz said, unimpressed.</p><p>Amity then took advantage of the distraction and drew a small circle that threw a thin fire spell close to Luz's feet, causing the human to yelp and jump "How dare you!" Luz exclaimed playfully.</p><p>Amity couldn't help but laugh quietly "I'm sorry, i had to".</p><p>Luz put her hands on her waist and shook her head, never dropping the smile "You sneaky Blight".</p><p>"Hey you two!" Lucia called. When Luz and Amity looked at her, she was crouching down to avoid a fire spell from Edric "Time to change teams, these two will kill me and I WILL kill them back!"</p><p>"I'm going!" Luz gave Amity a small wave before running to the older witches waiting for her.</p><p>As Lucia approached Amity, she was shaking her beanie to remove some snow from it "Geez, one more minute and they'd remove my socks without even taking off my boots" she commented while putting the beanie back on her head. Lucia then lowered her bat and raised an eyebrow "So, how's it going?"</p><p>"Good, but i can't do it on my own" Amity said while looking at her wand.</p><p>"Did you try doing it with your finger already?"</p><p>"I did, but when i try, nothing comes out of the circle and it vanishes, why do you think i use the wand?"</p><p>Lucia hummed, wondering "Let me see you try".</p><p>Amity shrugged and drew a circle, her face then scrunched up in struggle as she placed a hand around it, as if trying to pull the spell out of it, the circle quivered, until it broke from it's shape and vanished, Amity then panted a bit, dropping her hand and looking disappointed at herself.</p><p>"I can't do it... "</p><p>"Aw... " Lucia got on one knee in front of her, then poked her nose so she'd stop looking at the ground "Hell yeah you can, maybe not at this <em>exact</em> damn moment, but you'll figure it out, that attitude won't help".</p><p>Amity raised an eyebrow at her "Since when have you been so... positive?"</p><p>Lucia frowned "I'm not, trust me. Life sucks" she deadpanned "This is just something i learned with someone else" she turned her head to look at Luz, causing Amity to do the same. The twins were having fun with training with her, she'd dodge their attacks and open a bright smile when she managed to catch them off guard with her ice spell, it was quite a sight "So" Lucia got up "Ready to get that fire spell out of you?"</p><p>Amity nodded with an adorable determinated look and got her wand ready.</p><p>They went on with their training, Lucia going slightly easier, at some point she decided to position herself like a baseball player and smirked at Amity since she knew she had seen her do that pose before, Amity took the taunt and threw fire at her, and like the risky dummy Lucia liked to be, she managed to hit the ball with her bat. She half expected it to burn, but instead an ice glyph protected it enough for her to hit it right back at Amity, the girl gasped and dodged.</p><p>"What was that??" Amity asked with an amused grin.</p><p>Lucia chuckled "Baseball, baby".</p><p>A couple minutes later, Luz joined them again, she would be teaming up with Amity against Lucia, the twins would just watch this time, they wanted to see how this would turn out.</p><p>"Get her, Mittens!" Emira yelled.</p><p>Luz and Amity looked at each other, and nodded in a silent agreement. Amity started off with a fire ball, wich would be easy enough to dodge, but just as Lucia stepped aside, Luz was charging with an ice glyph, Lucia's first reaction was to lift her bat in front of her to protect herself from the blow.</p><p>Luz used it differently this time, she extended her arm while turning the glyph on, wich made a cold, white smoke come out of it, before she knew it, ice had covered her bat making it heavier and difficult to hold, Lucia wasn't going to let these kids win so fast, so she quickly slammed her bat against the closest rock she saw, breaking the ice layer into pieces. However, at that point Amity was already casting another fire spell against her, Lucia did the same thing from before and hit it like a baseball player, and Amity protected herself with a barrier, she has good reflexes.</p><p>Luz came at her with another ice glyph, a long ice cilinder grew from the snow diagonally, nearly hitting Lucia in the face before she broke the tip of the ice with her bat, apparently that was a distraction, because next thing she knew, Luz was in front of her with a light glyph. She pointed the flash at Lucia's face in an attempt to blind her, the older Noceda reacted soon enough and turned her face away with her eyes shut before her vision could be compromised, but she barely had time to open her eyes before a fireball was already coming straight to her, Lucia made the mistake of lifting her bat in a moment of quick thinking instead of dodging, she also realized too late that the previous use of her baseball move left the bat with a large uncovered area.</p><p>"Holy- "</p><p>When the fire hit her, it caused a small explosion that shoved her backwards, and she grunted as the force made her fall with her back against the snow. The twins cheered, and so did Luz who tried to high five Amity, but apparently she had to explain it before the girl complied.</p><p>"Accept your defeat!" Luz shouted.</p><p>Lucia sat up and examined her bat for any damage, there was none, just a black smudge that cleaned off when the brushed her hand over it "My god you kids!" she grumbled as she got up "Are we training for a war or something?" she then put a hand on her waist while staring at Luz "Did you seriously use my own blinding move against me??" Luz crossed her arms, looking smug, Lucia just sighed "I'm creating a monster aren't i".</p><p>"To your knowledge" Luz started "If anything, i'm the one teaching you stuff".</p><p>Amity laughed softly at the statement, seeing this, Lucia narrowed her eyes and scowled "Ah yeah?"</p><p>"<em>Yeah</em>" Luz drawled.</p><p>Before Luz could react, a snowball made contact with her chest, she took a look at the snow on her coat, then at Lucia, who was the one with a smug face this time as she simply stared with those relaxed eyelids. Amity gasped and the twins seemed stunned for a moment, but then Luz bent down, gathered snow in her hands, and threw it at Lucia who dodged it and stuck her tongue out.</p><p>"It's war!!" Luz yelled.</p><p>Amity was clueless about what was happening, but that just made her an easy target, Lucia threw another ball at her sister, but she dodged this time and it hit Amity in the shoulder instead, making her yelp.</p><p>"Woops" Lucia winced. But instead of being upset, Amity opened a smirk and also threw a snowball, hitting the older Noceda square in the face as she didn't expect it "Argh- Dangit!"</p><p>The fire was lighted up, and Luz and Amity were now having a snowball fight against Lucia instead of training like they were supposed to be doing a minute ago. Lucia got hit several times as she couldn't keep up with their speed, but in compensation she hit them as well, so all of them had snow on their clothes, Amity laughed when she got hit on the arm while she tried to dodge, she then molded the soft snow in her hands into a ball, and hit Lucia in the face again.</p><p>Lucia shook her head, huffing through her nose, and glared at them "That's it!"</p><p>She fumed and ran towards them, causing them both to scream, at this point they were running around and trying to escape Lucia, but even thought the snow slowed her down, she was bigger and faster.</p><p>"Get back here!" Lucia called at Luz and Amity, who had separated in order to confuse her.</p><p>"No way!" Luz yelled back.</p><p>When she ran for Amity, Luz dared to throw a snowball at her back, Lucia snapped her head back and started chasing her instead. This went on for awhile until the young girls made the mistake of standing close again, Lucia ran towards them with all her speed and they tried to escape, but she caught up to them and opened her arms wide open, scooping them both off of the ground, it made Amity squeal with delight and kick her legs frantically to no avail, meanwhile Luz laughed at the whole thing and Lucia ended up falling, turning to lay on her back so she wouldn't squash the kids, she was also laughing. When they tried to escape, Lucia didn't allow them to and they ended up engaging in a wrestling match on the snow, just when the older human thought she got hold of Amity, Luz jumped on her back and started messing with her hair, it was so much fun to the point they got tired and just laid on the snow, laughing their asses off, or in Lucia's case, just grinning like an idiot.</p><p>"Cease fire- " Lucia said breathlessly, making a <em>t</em> with her hands to ask for a time "Cease fire!"</p><p>Edric and Emira watched as Lucia helped Luz and a giggling Amity to get up, she had laughed and screamed so much with a smile on her face, they hadn't seen her like this in a long time, and they couldn't help but stare at the scene in front of them.</p><p>"Here, you got snow all over you too" Lucia said as she bent down a bit in front of Amity.</p><p>She started patting the snow off of Amity's clothes, the same way she just did to Luz, what amazed the twins even more, is that Amity just let it happen and didn't even seemed to mind the coddling. At last, Lucia gently brushed her hand against Amity's green hair to remove the bits of snow from it, she then used both hands to fix the loose hair strands back into the tidy look from before, it was such a sweet caring gesture that was so different from the angry display they saw at the library, but both reactions were connected, Lucia was caring for these two, and by the plain expression on her face it didn't even looked like she realized what she was doing, like it came so naturally, she even went as far as giving Amity a couple playful pats on the head once she was done helping with the snow, and the affectionate gesture made the young witch smile warmly at Lucia, wich is just too adorable so the older Noceda averted gaze after that, still wearing that frown.</p><p>How did they got so close?</p><p>"Should we take a break?" Luz asked at the twins.</p><p>They snapped back to reality and wore their usual little smiles "Soon, it's nearing dinner time" Edric responded.</p><p>Emira was already getting a few things ready and lighting a small fire, she was probably going to prepare whatever she brought for her and her siblings. They trained a bit more and Amity got to set a couple more trees on fire before she heard Emira call her.</p><p>"Amity! Dinner's ready!"</p><p>"I caught a bat!" Edric exclaimed.</p><p>The three of them stopped what they were doing and Amity went to place her things inside the tent "Edric, don't eat that" she said evenly before turning to Luz and Lucia "Will you two join us?"</p><p>"Sure! We brought snacks" Luz said smiling before going to get her bag, this whole training thing just got her even more hyper and Lucia hoped it wouldn't kill them both, she needed the energy to look after this little vibrating gremlin of a sister.</p><p>When Luz came back, Lucia's shoulders were twitching, she walked up to her big sister and saw she was chuckling at something with a wicked lopsided grin, Luz grimaced in confusion "What are you laughing at?"</p><p>Lucia kept giggling lowly and pointed with her finger "Look" Apparently, Edric was giving them a hard time with the bat, he held the little animal carefully in his gloved hands, while Emira glared at him and Amity stared with an annoyed face "He has a soft spot for animals, this is gold".</p><p>"Ed, give me the bat!" Emira demanded while extending her hand.</p><p>Edric looked all alarmed about it "No!" he refused "If we're not gonna eat it, i want to keep it as a pet!" he said as he ran away, forcing his sisters to go after him.</p><p>"Get back here before that thing bites you!" Emira yelled.</p><p>At this point, Lucia just stared at them with a small smile, the two sisters running after Edric, it was funny to see he was the dummy of the three of them, it was kind of expected.</p><p>"Okay okay, let me try this" Lucia said, stopping the laughing by clearing her throat. She approached them a bit, keeping a safe distance "Careful Edric, do you guys have rabies in the boiling isles?" They all looked at her.</p><p>"Rabies?"</p><p>The corner of Lucia's mouth twitched, but she kept it cool "Oh, it's an illness caused by a virus that attacks the brain, when it gets there it spreads super fast and causes symptoms like confusion, hydrophobia, anxiety, hallucinations, trouble swallowing, salivating too much" she counted on her fingers "And the virus gathers up in that same saliva you can't even swallow, so that's how it's most commonly transmitted, through biting, and well, rabid animals bite. To make it worse, the virus can just hide in your body for like a whole year if it wants to, you can get help between that time sure, but once it reaches the brain you're pretty much doomed to agonize until death while aware of everything so that's not good".</p><p>Edric quickly let go of the bat and it just flew away like nothing had happened, the look on their faces was dreadful as the boy slowly cleaned his hands on his coat "What were the chances that that bat had... rabies?" he asked in a robotic tone, eyes still widened.</p><p>"Meh, less than one percent to none. I doubt a rabid human realm animal of all things would get in here" She laughed out.</p><p>Edric gasped in betrayal, looking indignant as he started to complain to Lucia how he already had thought of a name for the bat, Emira just rolled her eyes and pulled him by the wrist while he kept talking all the way, Lucia laughed just a bit more before following, leaving Luz and Amity to walk behind them.</p><p>Amity leaned in and whispered to her training companion "That was quite a creative story to scare him".</p><p>"You mean rabies? Oh, no, that's totally real" Luz said to Amity super casually.</p><p>The girl frowned in horror "Titan!"</p><p>Luz brushed the back of her neck "Don't worry, it's really rare nowadays, Lucia just wanted to find a mean way to make him let go of the bat".</p><p>Amity tried to forget about the terrifying human disease since they had some freaky stuff in the Boiling Isles themselves, and went on her way to join their older siblings, Edric could almost have a dark cloud raining over his head as he seemed to be complaining under his breath, Lucia gave him a weak punch on the shoulder to snap him out of it, and seems like even that still hurt from the way he held his arm. They just sat near the tent and ate whatever they had brought, Amity and the twins were eating some kind of fancy warm soup or whatever that was, chatting and talking about their performances with the humans, Luz had made sandwiches for her and her sister, she didn't mind it's colder temperature and dug in, however, Lucia gave a couple bites and already set it aside, seeing this, Luz looked up at her with a questioning face, making sure to swallow before Lucia gazed back at her.</p><p>"I'm feeling... " she whispered and tried to gesture her hand in front of her chest as if trying to catch the words, but she couldn't "You know?"</p><p>"Oh" Luz immediately knew what she meant, and failed to hide her concern "You could eat just a few more bites" Lucia grimaced, looking a bit wore out "Please?"</p><p>Lucia sighed, how could she say no to that face, it was too cute, she managed to reach half of the sandwich before quietly wrapping it back in it's paper and placing it aside, that was enough for Luz, they just didn't notice how Amity would be glancing and observing them between spoonfuls, taking a mental note.</p><p>"Oh, aren't you finishing that?" Edric stated the obvious, already done with his soup.</p><p>Lucia just waved a hand in front of her, seeming uninterested "Nah. I'm not hungry".</p><p>"Can i have it?"</p><p>Emira smacked his arm with a spoon "Edric!" she whispered, trying to tell him it was impolite.</p><p>He just shrugged with an amused smile "What??"</p><p>"Pft, it's whatever" Lucia just offered it, ignoring their little thing.  Edric eagerly took it, unwrapped the paper then took a big bite out of it.</p><p>"Thanks" he muttered with a full mouth, Emira just rolled her eyes.</p><p>Amity just focused on her own food "Swallow first Edric, and eat slower".</p><p>"Mhm!" was all he responded back before forcefully swallowing, enjoying it more than Lucia did "Did you make this?"</p><p>"No, Luz did" Lucia pointed at her sister with her thumb.</p><p>"It's great" he said before taking another big bite while Emira grimaced at his eating habit. Luz smiled proudly and blushed, laughing nervously.</p><p>They had a pretty much chill moment, either commenting about how each other went on training, what they could do better, how Amity could learn the spell faster or just chit chatting, Emira commented about how she thought it was smart of Lucia to blind Edric with a light spell, wich totally disrupted his focus enough to not let him complete his spell, Luz praised Amity, babbling about how cool she was and how she betted she was just as good without the wand, Amity just blushed and smiled, timidly trying to praise Luz's performance as well, wich only made her beam with pride, Lucia could almost see steam leaving Amity's ears.</p><p>"So how was it the first time you two came here?" Emira asked Luz.</p><p>Luz perked up immediately "Gosh, it was crazy, scary" her expression became tense before opening in a smile again "But cool! Lucia was pestering Eda about how i should have more cards up my sleeve in case i had to defend myself".</p><p>Edric chuckled "Total mom".</p><p>"And then" Luz continued "She took us here so we could learn from the nature. It was kinda hard at first because she wanted me to eat snow and be able to differ rocks by smell for some reason" she recalled the memory with a grimace "Lucia got bored and went exploring, but guess what happened... " she looked at her older sister with a sly smile, Lucia already knew she was going to get exposed and just frowned "Lucia came back running, being chased by the Slither Beast, who happened to have a bump right here" Luz pointed at her own forehead.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"Come on you fluffy bastard! It's just one pat!!" Lucia shouted as the slither beast grabbed her with a single paw, keeping her arms trapped.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The slither beast was more than angry, and just catching Lucia wasn't enough, the events that followed were just frantic, Luz tried to distract it long enough for Eda to get there, by calling the beast and waving her arms, however, it got way too close and she was forced to back away, avoiding a blow as the enormous animal slammed it's fist against the snowy ground, causing Luz to fall off an edge she didn't even know was there. She heard Lucia desperately call her name as she fell, but thank god it wasn't too high, so the snow eased the fall, however it was definitely too high for her to climb back.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I leave you kids for two seconds and that's what happens?!" Eda yelled from far.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Luz could only hear some noises, the slither beast's growl, the sound of Eda drawing a circle but not being able to complete it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Ah farts! Hey kid, wherever you are, we'll try to not become dinner!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Luz tried making a mount of snow and climbing, but she only got snow falling in her head as she hit the bottom of the hole again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That was the moment she took her emotions out on a rock, regretting it as it only gave her pain on her foot, defeated, she sighed and sat down.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You were supposed to teach me magic... " she whispered to the island.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She pulled her notebook and pencil, drawing a light glyph, believing she wouldn't learn more than that as she stared at the little light ball that floated up to the sky, but it was at that moment that she realized something, the stars were making a constelation that basically formed a light glyph. Wondering what that meant, Luz finally payed more attention to her surroundings, and truly stopped to "listen to what the isles wanted to tell her" like Eda said. When she looked at the drawing on the snowflake that fell on her hand, her eyes widened, it was definitely not just a snowflake.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"It means... Magic, is a gift from the island" she said as she took a stick nearby and held another snowflake, trying to draw the same glyph on the snow "It means... " she then tapped the drawing, and a little ice pillar emerged from the snow.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Magic is everywhere".</em>
</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>"And i catapulted myself out of that hole!"</p><p>She told all the crazy events of how she helped save her sister and mentor, Luz weakened the grub that kept them attached to the wall with ice, and after that she lured the beast outside and got it to step on the huge ice glyph she drew outside, that was enough time for Eda and Lucia to sneak out of the now dry and cracked beast spit so they could assist Luz, Eda wasn't crazy to fight that thing, so she made a whole gesture with her arms and summoned a sleep spell. Lucia was relieved that Luz didn't tell much details of how she ended up hitting the slither beast, they were all quite amazed by the adventure.</p><p>Once they went back to training, they were trying to figure out Amity's fire, she was having difficulties into bringing it to her hands and not the wand, the twins tried training some more, but Amity was growing frustrated, even Luz noticed. Her siblings then tried to encourage her again, but it had the opposite effect.</p><p>"Come on, Mittens, try again, just a little harder!" Edric said.</p><p>Emira stood beside him "You'll see it's not that hard".</p><p>"Not that hard??" Amity growled and quickly turned her head to her siblings who were behind her, they were clearly surprised by her sudden reaction "I'm <em>trying!</em> I really am, but i'm just not as good as you!" she then turned away from them, looking down and scowling.</p><p>"Ah- " Emira didn't know what to say "Mittens- " she tried to reach out.</p><p>"I'm sorry... i'm just trying to concentrate" Amity said without doing any further attempts.</p><p>"Amity... " Luz said as she looked at her in worry. She placed a friendly hand on the young witch's shoulder "Everyone has their own pace, i know you can figure this out, even if not today".</p><p>Amity offered her a weak smile, she was grateful for the words, but couldn't bring herself to bring her own hopes up. Before anyone else could act, Lucia walked past them and stood in front of Amity, they stared at each other in complete silence for around full three seconds.</p><p>"Try again" the older girl said in a monotone voice.</p><p>"Lucia- i can't! I tried a hundred times already!" Amity snapped, voice raising a bit angrier than she wanted.</p><p>Lucia was unimpressed and just sighed "Let me see you try one more time".</p><p>Amity looked like she wanted to refuse, but huffed through her nose instead and turned around, she did the same process from before, she slowly drew a circle while frowning, and brought both hands around it, trying to pull the spell out of it, the circle quivered again, longer than before, causing Amity to groan with the effort, for a moment they thought she was going to do it, but the circle broke into dust then vanished, Amity let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and looked down, she was mad at herself. Lucia frowned and looked up, thinking, she then poked Amity's shoulder, prompting her to turn back at her, she still had that same frustrated look from before.</p><p>"I think you might be forcing too much. Power in fire probably doesn't come from whatever struggling thing you're doing right there" Lucia pointed.</p><p>Amity scoffed "What do you even mean by that? ".</p><p>Lucia groaned and rolled her eyes "Let's do it like this. You don't have other options anyway" she held Amity by the shoulders and abruptly turned her around again, Lucia then bent down enough for her head to be closer to Amity so she could hear her better "I want you to close your eyes for a moment and do as i say".</p><p>Like she said, Amity didn't had any other options, so she did, letting black dominate her surroundings, even if she felt silly doing so. Edric, Emira and Luz watched carefully.</p><p>"Forget about the exam and whatever else you're doing this for. Try to visualize it".</p><p>Amity frowned and tried to imagine it, she waited for a couple seconds, until she could see a tiny pink spark.</p><p>"Can you see yourself doing that spell with your own hands?"</p><p>She sighed and tried to, managing to see herself drawing a circle, feeling a tingle in the ends of her fingers, just that was enough to make her stop frowning and slightly raise her eyebrows instead "Mhm" Amity confirmed with a nod, keeping her eyes closed.</p><p>"Can you see that same pink fire coming from the circle?"</p><p>"I can" Amity said, nodding again, visualizing herself doing it again and again.</p><p>Lucia hummed in approval "Now take deep breaths, in and out, see if you can slow that damn squirrel heartbeat you got from failing" Amity almost wanted to laugh, but held herself back and inhaled, and exhaled, she did it a couple more times before she felt herself become less mad and more concentrated, paying more attention to what she was doing "You can do this, focus. Let your breathing become energy in the body, the energy extends past your fingers and becomes magic" Lucia said, and Amity focused, so much that she didn't even realize that the human had slowly let go of her shoulders and stepped back "Now open your eyes, and do it" Lucia spoke with finality.</p><p>Something clicked inside of Amity, deep inside her chest. She frowned with determination, and slowly drew a near perfect circle, she then surrounded it with her fingers, making the circle quiver again, but just a second after, she gestured her hands outwards, and her head followed as the circle floated slightly above her head, while pink flames wrapped themselves into each other, eventually forming a pink fireball that was bigger than the ones she created with the wand, an almost incredulous open smile made it's way to her mouth, and she stared at the flame that came to float above both her hands.</p><p>"Whoo!! A-mi-ty" Luz beamed cheerfuly "You did it!"</p><p>"She did it" Emira said while Edric was gawking a bit.</p><p><em>Holy shit i didn't thought it would work</em>. Lucia thought with a surprised look on her face.</p><p>"I-... i did it" Amity whispered, staring at the fireball in front of her as if she needed to remind herself of the proof over and over again, she then quickly turned around and lifted the fire a bit "I did it!" she stated with confidence and joy, eyes darting to see everyone's reaction, not restraining herself, seeing this, the twins realized that sometimes they forget she's a child.</p><p>"Oh wow" Lucia said, slowly opening a grin without much else, but almost melting inside at the look on Amity's face.</p><p><em>She's so precious, why is she so precious? How come i got two of these idiots in my life?</em> Lucia said in her mind.</p><p>"Cool, i didn't think you could actually do it" Emira said, smirk on her face as she crossed her arms, approaching her sister to inspect the flame, then eventually slapping Edric's hand as he was about to put his finger in it and get himself burned.</p><p>"That's awesome!!" Luz bounced on her feet then once again placed a supportive hand on the girl's shoulder, Amity gave a shy smile in return.</p><p>"What are you waiting for? Go burn something!" Edric encouraged.</p><p><em>Must run in the family</em>. Luz thought before beaming with the green haired witch.</p><p>"Alright!" exclaimed both Luz and Amity before running off to do exacty what Edric suggested.</p><p>The three older siblings stood there, watching as the first thing Amity did was run towards a tree "Wait wait!" Luz interrupted Amity "Yeet it!".</p><p>"What?" Amity asked, utterly confused.</p><p>"It's fun! Like this" Luz then threw a rock and yelled "YEET!".</p><p>Amity laughed and nodded "Okay, um... " she then positioned herself and threw the fireball at the three "Yeet!!" she yelled, the fireball hit the three and caused a whole fire explosion, burning the entire thing "Like this?"</p><p>"Hah yes!!" Luz jumped in place from joy, Amity seemed surprised "Didn't that feel good??"</p><p>"I- yeah it did" Amity laughed "Can we do that again?".</p><p>"Oh we're <em>definitely</em> gonna do that again!"</p><p>Lucia spat air out in a laugh and crossed her arms, watching the scene "I can't believe she just taught her that!"</p><p>Emira chuckled "And i can't believe you just taught her how to do that fire spell without knowing how to do cast it yourself".</p><p>That caught Lucia's attention, the way she said it wasn't entirely playful, when she looked at the twins, they had a somber expression on their faces as they watched their little sister burn random things with Luz cheering beside her "How did you do that?" Edric asked.</p><p>"Oh i- uh... At first i just thought of uncle Iroh from Avatar and then went on with the rest, i didn't thought it would work tho, don't tell her" she whispered the last part.</p><p>Both Blight siblings didn't understood everything she but giggled a bit, however, their laughs died out, and soon they looked at her in a way Lucia knew they meant business "We didn't exactly meant how you helped her with the spell" Edric went on "We've been watching from the second you scolded us at the at the library".</p><p>"We did our best to make it up to her, and we're fine, but... " Emira sighed "We could have messed up real bad that day, i don't know how we didn't realize sooner".</p><p>Lucia's memories went back to that moment and she sighed loudly "Ah shit... Look, when i said shitty siblings, i didn't mean- "</p><p>"It's fine, we get it" Emira interrupted "You were not really wrong tho, don't worry".</p><p>"The thing is that we haven't seen Amity smile like that in... i don't know, years i think" Edric shrugged, lowering his ears a bit "We don't get along the same way you do with Luz and... with Amity herself. It doesn't look like you even try that hard" the more they spoke, the more Lucia understood what they were trying to say.</p><p>"How did you do that? You just got here" The way Emira said it, was both with genuine intent to know, and with something like jealousy or almost like resentment, but Lucia couldn't bring herself to be mad.</p><p><em>Am i gonna have to be the bigger person again? Now i get why Eda hates having to do that</em>.</p><p>"Look... " Lucia began, still wearing that same unamused expression as always, she then shrugged "I don't know. Luz and i always got along, i'm the one who always took care of her while our mom worked her ass off to give us what we have today, and i still do it" She said thoughtfully, watching her sister "But that's our way to be, you guys don't have a horrible relationship just because you don't give hugs and kisses like i do with Luz, trying to change all of sudden would just get weird glares from her" she said with a lopsided smile, hoping that her words made some sense "You know, because uh... Every sibling has a different dynamic".</p><p>"Yeah" Edric didn't sound completely convinced, but then he put his hands on his waist and raised an eyebrow at the older Noceda "That's valid, but your "dynamic" worked with her too".</p><p>"Heh, good point, i... didn't even notice" Lucia scratched the back of her head as she said it "I don't know, i was just being myself, our languages simply happened to be compatible, or maybe she just likes the treatment, i- i don't know, i can't do anything about it" she then brushed her hands together, trying to warm them up.</p><p>"That's okay. If she doesn't mind it coming from you, there has to be a good reason" Emira said, giving her a friendlier expression "Just... Thank you two, for being Amity's friends. She could use this kind of company".

</p><p>"Heh" Lucia chuckled, shaking her head "You two are good, i can see that now".</p><p>They went back to watching their young sisters, Luz had jumped in front of Amity just as her arm was positioned to throw another fireball.</p><p>"I think that's enough yeeting for now!" Luz said with both hands up as if to stop Amity.</p><p>Emira had a plain look in her eyes "Oh look, at least one of them is not compelled to destroy the entire environment".</p><p>"I'll start packing before it gets too late" Edric said while pointing at the sky, wich was already dark and full of stars, they seem to have lost track of time "Are you two coming back with us?"</p><p>Lucia nodded and went to call the two gremlins "Hey you two! Get your asses over here!" she yelled so she could be heard from the distance. Once the two girls looked at her, Lucia raised her hand and made a gesture for them to get closer. Amity waved her fireball off, wich made Luz sigh with relief, then both of them approached the young woman, Luz running right behind Amity "Go help packing your things up, we're heading home".</p><p>"Do you really need us?" Amity questioned.</p><p>"Nope" Lucia said casually "But i'm lazy so i'm not doing it. Have fun" Luz crossed her arms and shook her head as her big sister walked away.</p><p>The group was more talkative during the way back, Edric and Emira teasing their sister and commenting about other things with Luz. Lucia just hung in the back, being forced to watch Luz and Amity being adorable as the young human got excited again.</p><p>"Azura book club? Azura book club!"</p><p>Amity blushed visibly, then whispered to Luz in a flustered smile "As long as it's a secret club, okay?"</p><p>But of course the twins heard it "It's not a secret" Edric chanted.</p><p>"We're gonna tell everyone!" Emira added.</p><p>Amity just groaned and went back to chatting with Luz, Lucia just watched for awhile and humphed to herself in satisfaction, she was right, they're getting along. There was a moment Luz and Amity's voice were the ones remaining during their walk, but Lucia couldn't bring herself to be annoyed, her sister got a good new friend and that's good.</p><p>They eventually went separated ways, and shortly after, Luz yawned and rubbed her eyes, probably tired from exercicing and spending so much energy until late, so Lucia simply carried her on her back without trouble, Luz still tried to keep a conversation, but her voice would get weaker, to the point Lucia was only responding with hums, then a few minutes after, she felt Luz's body go limp as her whole weight pressed against her back, making it clear that she was asleep. Lucia walked the rest of the way in silence, until the owl house got in her view, it also seemed like Hooty had been waiting for them to show up, he opened his mouth in a big smile and was about to babble with his loud annoying voice, but then Lucia brought a finger to her own lips and shushed him before he could, Hooty saw Luz sleeping and closed his beak but kept the smile, he opened the door as quietly as he could and let the older sister pass, who would know that he can be silent when he wants to?</p><p>Lucia came to face Eda, who sat on the couch examining whatever new human trash she got, she was waiting for them too, King on the other hand was already sleeping. The older sister mouthed a "hi" to Eda, who smiled warmly at the sight of her carrying Luz and waved dismissively so she'd just take the kid to the room already, she walked past the older witch and tried to walk up the stairs with as little friction as she could, not fully succeeding since she felt Luz stir a bit, but then she felt her sister go limp once again, so that was fine. Once Lucia got inside the room, she closed the door with her foot and walked towards their bed, and with "bed", she meant a sleeping bag beside a futon, they had to change from these warm clothes, they were not in a cold environment anymore and she could feel the roots of her hair getting wet, if they slept like this they'd sweat to death.</p><p>"Luz, we gotta change" she said, but the kid just nuzzled her shoulder and didn't move much, Lucia rolled her eyes and slowly lowered her sister until she was sure her feet were touching the ground before turning around to look at the teen, she was barely awake, enough to stand up but with her eyelids so down it didn't allow her to see much "Take these clothes off" Lucia said while already shrugging the leather coat down her arms.</p><p>Luz yawned and groggily started undressing, getting slightly annoyed as she had to remove the hat, the coat, the boots, pants... it suddenly felt like too much work, she just wanted to sleep, but eventually she managed to change into her loose tank top, shorts and socks, Lucia didn't bother as much and just put on her stripped shirt, changed the pants to dark green sweatpants and placed her beanie beside her pillow. Luz joined her sister who was already down and getting ready to sleep, then snuggled beside her, Lucia's eyes shot open and she looked down at the person who was currently using her biceps as a pillow, she simply decided she was too tired to protest, Luz was already sleeping and it's been some time since she last sneaked up her older sister's bed back in the human realm, yeah, she'd still do that sometimes.</p><p>Lucia sighed and slowly wrapped her arm around Luz's shoulders, pulling the smaller frame closer to her chest and resting her chin on the girl's head, the dummy had laid on top of her sleeping bag instead of getting under the covers, so guess who will have to keep her from getting cold? Yep, big sister again, great.</p><p><em>What a big baby... </em> Lucia thought with a harmless frown, then closed her eyes and let her mind relax, waiting for sleep to take her consciousness away.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Since this chapter focused on Amity bonding with our Noceda sisters etc, we didn't got to see Amelia, but i plan on having a chapter doing the same thing with Luz and Amelia, spoiler alert, arson.</p><p>I thought about certain aspects that could be included in this story in the future, nothing too heavy, but enough for me to question the rating, so in case it fits, i might change the rating to mature, we'll see.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>They start burning stuff and causing trouble, Luz might have caught a taste for it, or not, we'll see.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for taking so long! Enjoy, and please leave comments.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luz yawned, slowly drifting back to consciousness while wanting to just keep her eyes closed, she was comfy, feeling all warm and cozy, does she really has to get up? She could just stay there and let her mind go back to sleep, just curl up into whatever was keeping her warm and stay in bed all day, well, that's what her groggy self was thinking before she moved a bit and realized there was something against her head, while someone's breathing would hit her hair evenly.</p><p>
  <em>Yep, Lucia.</em>
</p><p>Luz stretched more or less like a cat against Lucia's chest and tried to keep her eyes open, she was feeling so lazy from yesterday, it's been some time since an activity managed to tire her out and snuggling only makes her feel even lazier, but in an instant, she remembered that today would be the day she'd apply a little presentation to Hexside with her sister, principal Bump would judge their skills and see if she can get in, so it would probably be better if Luz didn't risk oversleeping, this was very important to her, and even against her old friend called "groggyness", she will get up.</p><p>If Lucia removes that arm from her of course.</p><p>That young woman had quite a strong grip, and she'd only hold tighter by instinct if she tried to escape, believe her, Luz knows, she can be protective even in her sleep, once, their mother got in their room to see why Luz hadn't woken up for breakfast yet, only to find Luz wrapped up on her sister with a "help me" look, it was funny, Lucia was in deep sleep that day, who can blame her? Luz learned to be less merciful of her sister's sleep and tried to leave, but of damn course Lucia kept her hold, the older Noceda wouldn't admit it, but sleeping Lucia is just as much of a cuddle bug as Luz is. Luz sighed and slowly pushed at her sister's shoulder in order to leave, causing the taller girl to stir and slightly open her eyes at the disturbance.</p><p>Lucia tsked and removed her arm, rolling on her back with a light frown as she closed her eyes again "Go back to sleep... it's probably 3AM".</p><p>"It's eight in the morning" Luz said, checking in her phone.</p><p>"That's a small difference... "</p><p>"No it isn't?"</p><p>"I don't care... "</p><p>Luz removed her socks and got up, picking up Lucia's jacket and throwing it on her sister's face before looking for her cat hoodie "No time to sleep, we're going to see principal Bump today! Forgot?"</p><p>Lucia slowly dragged the jacked down her face and wore an angry look "Not one bit... Also do that again and i'll strangle you".</p><p>They headed to Hexside once they were done with their entire routine, Lucia was slowly getting used to the new sleep routine even though she moved like a sloth while eating her food. Once they got to the school, they were guided to the auditorium and Eda just shoved both humans behind the curtains, Luz was really nervous, afraid of messing up and... dying, for some reason, Lucia on the other hand just wanted the exam to be over, her young sister did a whole introduction that sounded like she planned the writing in half hour, what did she even mean by "a hero will rise"?</p><p>It was cool enough, Luz showing humans can indeed do magic through glyphs, but of course she did the eyelid thing, got all clumsy and fell on Bump's lap before slidding down to the ground and summoning a huge ice pillar by accident, Lucia facepalmed herself, just why. But the old man wasn't a jerk, and declared that Luz passed the test, eliciting a muffled "hurray" out of Luz after she fell face first on the floor. Lucia didn't play a whole introduction of course, she just summoned a light ball and left it floating, then slammed her bat against the stage wich summoned a bunch of ice spikes, Bump nodded and took notes, he declared she also passed the test and welcomed her to Hexside, then warned that since they'll start in a few days, they better get the uniforms soon, Luz cheered and beamed for Lucia who looked like she still wanted to take a nap, by the time they left the building and were walking down the school's stairs outside, Luz was still fangirling.</p><p>"Aaah!!" she screeched "We're in, Lucia! We're iiiin!!"</p><p>"Yeah yeah" Lucia said in a monotone voice, hands inside her pockets.</p><p>"Hah! I don't know wich reaction i appreciate more" Eda snorted "Hope you kids don't regret this whole crap, i am not doing this much fixing of my own actions ever again".</p><p>Lucia just sighed "I swear that the only learning institution i'll ever be joining from now on will be university... "</p><p>"Pft" Eda threw a dismissive hand "Oh don't whine, you finished human school some time ahead, right? At least the theorical stuff won't be as annoying".</p><p>Lucia gave her a silly frown and twisted her lip "Excuse me, no i didn't, and human subjects will definitely be different from whatever you guys learn there, chemistry class never taught me how to freaking spit fire" She said the last statement while looking at Luz, who smiled and shrugged in response.</p><p>When they got inside the owl house, Lucia flopped face first against the nearest soft surface, wich happened to be the couch, she was definitely not excited for Hexside, but Luz was, and she decided to pester her sister about it even though her face was against the couch, she kept voicing her questions, her expectatives, and whatever else, she just went on and on with the babbling for about full three minutes until Lucia had enough.</p><p>"Alright alright!" She lifted her face and frowned "Stop vibrating!"</p><p>"I'm not vibrating!" said Luz, vibrating.</p><p>"You're literally bending your knees to move yourself up and down" Lucia stated tiredly "Why don't you go break something and let me sleep?"</p><p>Luz huffed and pouted "You cut my wave".</p><p>"That's not a wave, it's a tsunami" she said in a muffled voice as she shoved her face back against the couch.</p><p>Luz groaned and took her bag, shoving a pencil and notebook in it "I'll go outside".</p><p>"Nooo... " Lucia drawled, protective instincts poking and telling her to tag along, but sleepiness overbearing it.</p><p>"Love you, bye!" Luz stated quickly and closed the door before her sister could perk up "Tsunami, pft... " she grumbled.</p><p>She was just a bit sad Lucia lacked motivation so much, but everyone had their thing, just knowing both of them would study magic from now on made her happy enough, however, Eda didn't had any task for her to do at the moment, so her day was mostly free, she would hang out with Willow and Gus, or maybe Amity if she could, but they're still in school at this hour, so now that she stopped to think about it, there's pretty much no one for her to hang out with, but she told herself that's fine, it's been like this all her life, except that she always had Lucia who is noe fast asleep, it doesn't exactly makes her sad, in the very least disappointed, so she'll draw or go for a walk by herself.</p><p>Unless...</p><p>- - -</p><p>Amelia was really just walking to her personal chilling spot and minding her own business when she heard someone call her name.</p><p>"Amelia! Hi!"</p><p>She looked around, trying to find the source of that voice, but found no one, so she looked up instead, and found herself facing a kid who was waving at her from a huge ass tree, she frowned and narrowed her eyes to see better, and seriously, that's not someone she expected to find.</p><p>"Luz??" she yelled so she could be heard.</p><p>"Me!" Luz yelled back, smiling brightly.</p><p>Amelia was baffled, she then placed her hands on her hips "What the hell are you doing up there??".</p><p>"I was looking for you! I had absolute no idea of where to find you, so i remembered this was where you taught me how to set my breath on fire, got somewhere high and looked for any signs of green hair!"</p><p>"But how long have you been there??"</p><p>"Half hour!"</p><p>Amelia facepalmed herself, Luz is just as unbelievable as last time "Have you considered that if i didn't show up, you'd just waste your time waiting for me to randomly pass by?"</p><p>"I don't have anything better to do!" Luz said with a frown "Actually i first climbed this tree because i was bored, THEN i thought that maybe i would be able to see you if you were near, and it worked! How convenient!"</p><p>"Oh Titan... " Amelia whispered and chuckled at how absurd this is "Are you gonna tell me you've been waiting for me during this entire half hour?"</p><p>"Kinda, but also i'm just stuck!" Luz yelled back.</p><p>Amelia couldn't hold it back anymore, she just laughed, Luz has been catching her off guard since they met, and she's still doing it "Give me a sec!" she told Luz. She drew a big circle, and raised both arms, at this command, the earth began to rise, mixing itself in a weird faded purple mass, until it finally took the shape of a giant abomination arm with an open hand, it stretched all the way up in front of the tree, until it was close enough to Luz, who smiled in awe before carefully jumping off of the thick branch she was sitting on, landing on the abomination's palm.</p><p>Amelia then slowly brought her hands down, causing the arm to go lower until Luz's feet touched the ground and the abomination limb became nothing but mud. Luz then walked up to Amelia and smiled with excitement.</p><p>"Oh wow, thanks for that" she said "You're in the abomination track?"</p><p>Amelia just shrugged, wearing the same plain look as always "Not really, but it's useful".</p><p>"I bet. They can carry stuff for you and fight like pokemons, i wonder if i could make an otter abomination" Luz then gasped "Otter abomination!".</p><p>"Poke what...?" the older witch chuckled.</p><p>"Oh, it's a human thing" Luz waved it off, Amelia rolled her eyes playfully and smiled down at her "So how are you?"</p><p>"Can't complain, you?"</p><p>"I'm good, i just- " the human girl then interrupted herself as she remembered "OH wait! Guess what! I'll be studying at Hexside!"</p><p>Amelia was surprised for a second, frowning a bit but then slightly raising her eyebrows "Wait, really? Why?"</p><p>"That's... not really a question i expected" Luz said, narrowing her eyes "To learn magic and have a better understanding of it, why else?"</p><p>"Uh... I don't know, If i could i would have left already" Amelia said, putting a hand on her hip.</p><p>Luz was going to ask what she meant, but totally brushed it off when her eyes briefly landed on the witch's hand, seeing bruises and spots smeared with dried blood over the knuckles.</p><p>"Your hand!" she yelped.</p><p>Amelia's face changed with realization, before she knew, Luz had taken hold of her hand with both of hers, and was carefully examining the damage with so much focus she kept furrowing her eyebrows, she gently pressed her thumb against the most bruised knuckle, it had the most reddish colour from the thin layer that had formed with blood, and Amelia repressed a flinch, but twisted her lip at the ache, there was also a thin scratch on the back of her hand. Luz then tilted her head up to look at Amelia with an adorable, yet genuine concerned look, hazel eyes locking with golden ones.</p><p>"What happened?" She asked, voice matching her expression with just as much intensity.</p><p>"Uh... "</p><p>- - -</p><p>
  <em>"You piece of shit!!" Amelia snarled.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She ignored the sting in her hand, dripping with blood, she could hear each time a drop fell on the floor. Not wanting to mess her hand too much, she summoned fire, keeping it floating over her left palm, her energy was heavy to the point of frightening, and her eyes deadly even though they would have seemed calm in any other situation, but right now? As she held the other witch by the shirt? She could kill with that glare.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Amelia! Stop!" Edric yelled, holding her back by an arm while Emira held the other.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"F-fuck... " the person Amelia just beat up coughed, blood inevitably escaping their mouth the second it opened "You won't- get away with this- ".</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Bitch i already did!" Amelia shouted, aura unpredictable as the fire in her hand flared, almost like representing her emotions "You can get someone to fix that shit you call face, unless you want me to make you go missing! I could walk free for decades before someone found out, that if the guards even bothered to look for some useless scum like you!!" The other witch was wincing everytime Amelia got close to freeing herself from her siblings hold, struggling to come up with smart responses when the devil in a young woman's body glared at them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Amelia had challenged that witch for a duel, in an isolated area deeper in the woods, there's no mistery in saying the Blight totally wrecked them, her spells were cast as if with the intent to kill, and after the duel was won, Amelia started pummeling them, to make up for the injuries magic didn't allow to be caused, she could just have used fire, but Titan, the satisfaction from using her own hands was so much bigger, her oponent's, no, her enemy's face was bloody and bruised, but the twins had been on her tail since the beginning, and once it got too far, they used all their strength to keep their sister from giving the other witch a concussion.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Amelia was trying to kick them and everything, ready to burn them if any movement was made against her "I have the power to screw your life for good, imagine what people would think if they knew who you were bothering and why, how your family would be seen- " she growled.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Just stop! Mom and dad already solved this!" Emira begged.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I don't give a fuck about the worthless measures those two took!!" She retorted, not taking her eyes off of the person she just beat up "If you ever look at my sister wrong, i'll add "murder" to my fucking record! You hear me?? You're done!!" Amelia spat and stopped struggling, simply turning around and shrugging off of the twins hold, as for her enemy, they didn't even had the sense to just back down, instead, they smirked at Amelia, face wounded and everything.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Amelia slowly walked away like nothing had happened, and took a good look at her hand, her healing skills were not that good, healing was one of the areas she didn't had much time to study about since she had to do it in secret, so this would have to get better in the old fashioned way, Amelia was already thinking of how she could hide the bruises with an illusion spell if her parents were around, maybe burning that demon scum's face would have been better when it comes to the trouble of acting like nothing new went on, but it's worth it, she repeated it in her head again and again that it was the best thing to do.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'm just protecting her" She thought.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Please, let's just go home" Emira asked quietly, both her and Edric walking behind Amelia, ears down and expressions full of anxiety.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Amelia summoned a handkerchief with a spell and used it to wipe away the blood before burning it to ashes "I'm done..." was all she told them, she wanted to wash her hands soon, now that the adrenaline was lowering, the bruised skin was starting to sting, dammit.</em>
</p><p>- - -</p><p>"This is nothing, i just punched a tree out of anger" Amelia lied, keeping her eyes bored and unamused in hopes Luz would be dumb enough to brush it off too.</p><p>But Luz didn't seem to believe it all, in fact, she grimaced at the story and held Amelia's hand a little tighter.</p><p>"A tree?"</p><p>Titan, the compassion in her voice made Amelia's heart ache, it was so genuine, they barely know each other and Luz is already full heart open, when had she last met someone like that? Why does Luz cares? As foreign as the feeling might be, Amelia knows she has seen that worried face before, and it makes her want to reassure this kid, or just... Anything. Amelia tried to slowly slip her hand away from Luz, but the girl kept her hold, as if pleading.</p><p>
  <em>Aw... </em>
</p><p>Amelia sighed and smiled softly "Yeah, an evil tree, i was just defending someone who's important to me".</p><p>Luz stared for a bit, then tilted her head like a confused and suspicious puppy "Trees can be evil?"</p><p>The green haired witch brought the other hand to her face and laughed "Not an actual tree, do you get what i mean?"</p><p>Luz stared, she didn't get it.</p><p>"It wasn't a tree, Luz".</p><p>"Oh".</p><p>"Pffft- " Amelia laughed. Luz blushed in embarrassment and pouted, looking down so she'd avoid eye contact.</p><p>"Ah- Tree or not, you're hurt, and i'll help!" she let go of Amelia's hand and started looking for something inside her bag.</p><p>"Oh?" Amelia said before clearing her throat to stop laughing for good "It's fine, don't worry about it" the human ignored her "Luz i'm saying you don't have- " Amelia interrupted herself as a purple bandaid was put over the scratch on her hand.</p><p>"There, now you're part of the boo boo buddy club" Luz said, smiling up to her.</p><p>Amelia stared, and stared, and stared.</p><p><em>I will definitely adopt this child</em>.</p><p>"Okay, um... " Amelia said, not really knowing what to do "Thanks, Luz".</p><p>"You're welcome! As long as you don't punch any other "evil trees", you'll be fine" Luz said, giving her a knowing look.</p><p>Amelia hummed "Got that, you're sweet".</p><p>Luz's response was to scratch the back of her head and blush again with a shy smile, but then, Amelia looked down at her, with a smirk and eyes full of a mischief Luz had seen before.</p><p>"So, you said you're bored?" she asked suggestively.</p><p>Let's say that the events after that were quite not boring. They had sneaked into the animal area in Hexside to pet a griffin, lucky that the one they found was actually a sweetheart that spat lolipops, they spooked an elf who screeched like a little girl and chased them afterwards, then had an actual productive conversation about magic while Amelia showed a few spells and tried to help Luz with the theorical part of them, and well, that was before they decided to just forget it all and prank Boscha's gang.</p><p>Amelia shushed Luz, who was trying to hold back her giggles by covering her own mouth.</p><p>"Look, look... " The Blight whispered and pointed down, they were in a higher spot and could see people passing by under them. Amelia then pointed at a few teenagers that were hanging out, Luz recognized them, in particular, Boscha, she made fun of Willow and they pranked her back in the day Hooty caused three amber alerts with the power of the moon, it seems like they were skipping school. A bit to their side, an animal control waggon was slowly passing by, with... weird flying rat creatures in the back that were making screeching noises, Amelia's mouth turned into an almost creepy smile as she drew a circle, casting a spell that caused the locker in the cage to slowly crack until it became nothing but tiny pieces.</p><p>The angry rat creatures slammed the cage open, some of them flew away, and others immediately targeted the teens who were now screaming and running as they had their hair bit and pulled, waving their arms over their heads in desperate attempts to avoid getting scratched. Amelia and Luz fell back laughing at Boscha and her gang's "misfortune", eventually ducking down to avoid being seen, they gave a little peak to see the adults trying to get the animals back in the cage while others ran after the ones who escaped and proceeded to break things.</p><p>"Pffft- " Luz failed to hold her laugh, she usually wouldn't have started something like this, but it felt so fun.</p><p>"Hey!" someone yelled "Do you have anything to do with this??" the person asked from down there once they saw the two idiots laughing their asses off.</p><p>"Bye!" Amelia hurried to say and ran, with Luz right behind her.</p><p>Once they were away from trouble, Luz was bouncing on her feet "I can't believe you did this!" she beamed, eyes full of an admiration that made Amelia swell with pride "I would never have guessed i'd prank Boscha again. So what's next?" She barely finished her sentence and already wanted to engage in more activities.</p><p>"Next?" Amelia asked with an raised eyebrow, looking around, until something caught her eye  "Well... "</p><p>Next thing they knew, Luz had three lightened matches in hand and she held it right beneath an emperor's guard's cape, holding back a giggle by covering her mouth even though her shoulders still trembled, Amelia was right behind her, watching with a wicked grin, the oblivious guard didn't notice his cape's edge was slowly being set on fire, Luz sneaked away and hid back with Amelia, who immediately shushed her but giggled a bit too.</p><p>The guard finally realized his cape was on fire and began to frantically slap it, when the fire went on, he desperately tried removing his whole hoodie, but it was attached to something else on his clothes, so he couldn't, before he knew, the fire started to spread on his pants right on his butt, at this point he was just running around with his ass on fire. That was when another member of the emperor's coven simply came and plainly drew a circle that summoned a water blob, he just threw it against the fabric and the previously panicking guard stood still.</p><p>"You could just have used magic, Steve".</p><p>"Oh- Uh... " the guard stammered, trying to come up with excuses.</p><p>Both Luz and Amelia tried to hold a laugh.</p><p>"Pfft- " </p><p>But they couldn't, of course.</p><p>They started laughing their asses off, Amelia more gathered up than Luz, but she was still laughing lowly, it was an interesting sight, and Luz brushed away a tear as she held her belly.</p><p>"Oh gosh, that poor guy!" Luz breathed "I feel bad".</p><p>"Oh don't, he's probably another fanatic idiot who pushes things off of tables while screaming about how great the emperor is" Amelia waved it off with a smile plastered in that plain expression of hers "You went well, you little rat" she said before giving Luz's a single pat on the back that was a bit too strong, enough for the girl to bent forward a little from the impact, but she smiled up at Amelia anyway, not seeming to mind.</p><p>"Thanks, i uh... yep" Luz said, holding her fingers together and feeling just as proud as she was shy.</p><p>"You're a fast learner, but it doesn't look like you know that many fun tricks tho" Amelia said, narrowing her eyes playfully.</p><p>"Actually i know more or less how to fight with a knife".</p><p>Now Amelia spat a laugh again in disbelief, holding the bridge of her nose "Why?? That was so unexpected!"</p><p>Luz laughed and felt bold enough to wink "It's a thing i do".</p><p>"Figured so" Amelia said before crossing her arms, she couldn't help the amusement in her own voice, this human was a box of surprises, that being said, something popped in her mind, something... fun, and probably dangerous "So, Luz... Do you wanna go burn something?"</p><p>"Yes!!"</p><p>- - -</p><p>Lucia abruptly sat up straight out of the blue like she had been shocked.</p><p>"Why do i suddenly sense chaos?".</p><p>Eda then looked up from whatever trash she was analyzing "What?"</p><p>"Hmmm... " Lucia slowly sat back against the couch with narrowed eyes, Eda just shrugged and assumed it was just her being weird.</p><p>- - -</p><p>"Oh gosh. I never did something like this before" Luz gasped "Am i a criminal?" she asked in a whisper.</p><p>Meanwhile, Amelia was smiling like a villain as her and Luz made a trail of the alcohol-like substance that would lead to an old tent, it was supposed to be a space to be used in the market, but it looked like that wrecked thing wasn't used in a long time.</p><p>"Not yet" Amelia said.</p><p>They made sure no one was looking before pouring the liquid all over the tent, they did it until the bottles were almost empty, then hurried to stand on the other side of the street to not cause suspicion. They waited for a short moment as they heard someone was coming, it was a group of people who were bringing a captured dog-like demon on a huge wooden platform, they were demon hunters, and actually...</p><p>"Woah i know these guys!" Luz whispered.</p><p>"Yeah?" Amelia looked down at Luz with a questioning look as she noticed the teen's apprehensive stance.</p><p>"My friends and i decided to join in the moonlight conjuring at Eda's house, then we brought the house itself to life and decided to show off, but everything changed when <em>they</em> attacked" Luz pointed "They threw us off a cliff".</p><p>"Oh wow" Amelia said with both eyebrows raised "I didn't know they were child murderers, but i'm not surprised, now we <em>gotta</em> get them" her eyes darkened as she frowned, however, she opened a big grin that exposed her fangs for the first time, it almost looked threatening if it wasn't for the fact Luz knew she wasn't the one going to be harmed. Luz kept a close eye on the hunters, she could tell Amelia had something in mind "What do you say we teach them a lesson?".</p><p>The next moment, Luz was pouring the last bits of her bottle over the old tent's dusty cloth, meanwhile, Amelia was hiding close to it, and Luz had made sure to make the trail end close to her friend so Amelia would be able to set it on fire without being seen, Luz then yeeted the empty bottle somewhere and stood in front of the abandoned and now very flammable tent.</p><p>"Here!" Amelia said, throwing an old black cloak at Luz's direction "It will make you look stranger!" she whispered loudly.</p><p>Luz caught the oversized cloak in her hands and put it on, covering her head with it's hoodie "Where did you find this?"</p><p>"Sh!" was all Amelia said before hiding again.</p><p>"Okay okay!" Luz whispered back "Alright Luz, try to look somber... " she told herself, standing in front of the tent with her head down, enough to hide her face with the hoodie's shadow.</p><p>The demon hunters got closer as they passed by, and just as they walked by Luz, she started her acting.</p><p>"Greetings, gentlemen" Luz said lowly in a huskier version of her own voice "Did something catch your interest?"</p><p>Their leader, who happened to be a man with eyepatch, looked down at her, then at the tent, then back at her "There's nothing in there" he stated.</p><p>"Oh, silly you, yes there is, if you look closer" she said, slowly lifting her head, showing some of her face.</p><p>A green skinned man with small tusks coming from his lower teeth approached from behind the leader and narrowed his eyes, staring at Luz "Hey, aren't you one of the kids we tied up when we tried to capture that walking house?" he said, his leader giving him an unamused stare.</p><p>"Oh, you misunderstood" Luz said with a grin, removing the hoodie and glaring at them like a maniac "I am every child you tossed from cliffs" she said while the tent behind her began to rise with fire "Every child you didn't bother saving" the fire behind her grew dramatically, causing all the demon hunters, including the leader, to step back and widen their eyes "And every child you ever harmed in your shameful life".</p><p>"Great job, Tom" said the eyepatched man to his companion, sarcastically.</p><p>In a moment, the fire flared with rage, consuming the entire tent and engulfing Luz in flames until they couldn't see her and only fire was left, the demon hunters jumped back and drew their weapons, the eyepatch man pulled a large sword from his back while others had things like small axes, they could only stare as the fire grew out of control until it became a large pillar way taller than them, spinning around itself until a demonic frame formed from the flames, with horns, long teeth, claws, and a crazy grin not so different from the one Luz had shown moments ago, the image had it's humanoid shape from torso up, the rest was only wild fire.</p><p>"W-what the- " said Tom.</p><p>"Fire spirit?!" one of the hunters yelled.</p><p>The huge demonic shape roared and launched itself towards the hunters, falling over them like a wave, a wave of fire may you say, the leader attempted to use his sword, but it was useless against the fire and only went through it, that was when he actually looked anything but serious. Part of the demonic figure extended in a tentacle, going in the direction of to the demon the hunters had captured, the fire then proceeded to burn the ropes that kept the beast stuck to the wooden platform.</p><p>The first thing the demon did after being unleashed, was to snarl and throw blows against the few hunters who were currently trying to capture it back, the giant dog looking demon managed to strike the demon hunters with it's huge paws, they grunted as they were thrown backwards, and the creature took that opportunity to run away, probably on it's way to nature or chaos, they could already hear people screaming.</p><p>"No!" The man with eyepatch cried out, realizing their captured demon was set free, he then quickly turned around when he heard a shout.</p><p>The flaming tentacle had retracted back to it's source, and the "fire spirit" now spun around itself until it formed the shape of a large round portal, that seemed to have an entire corridor also made of fire inside of it, a large chunk of fire stretched itself from inside said "portal", and took the shape of a giant hand, that barely gave Tom any time to react before he felt the hand wrap itself around half of his body, making him fall on his stomach as it slowly dragged him towards the fire portal, it was a terrifying sight to look at, like he was being pulled to hell, all while he yelled and clawed at the ground in desperate attempts to grab onto something. The leader widened his eye in shock and ran towards him, extending a hand, Tom grabbed it but the hand was still pulling him, all while the eyepatched man groaned with the effort of trying to free him, also being dragged in the proccess.</p><p>"No, stop!!" the green skinned man screamed at the fire.</p><p>"<em>How many times have you done it?</em>" a creepy voice echoed through the fire, it was a combination of both Luz and Amelia's voices, but the demon hunters didn't know that "<em>How many times have you denied them mercy?</em>"</p><p>"I'M SORRY OKAY?! I'm sorry for pushing those dumb kids off of that cliff!! They didn't even die!! Actually they kicked our asses!! That should be fine! I'm too cool to die!! I'M SORRY!!"</p><p>Suddenly, just as he finished talking, the fire dispersed, and slowly vanished, leaving no trace but the dark marks on the ground, and ashes where the abandoned tent once stood.</p><p>The demon hunters stayed in silence, still processing everything that happened.</p><p>The leader looked at the damage that had been done, they lost their demon, and his partners were trying to get up after getting hit in the proccess, not to mention having the life scared out of them by the fire-child-spirit-whatever-it-was thing. He then looked down at Tom, who laid on the floor with the face of someone who could have had a heart attack.</p><p>"Tom".</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"No more getting us haunted by angry children spirits".</p><p>Tom frowned at that "You were the one who told me to throw them over the cliff last time!"</p><p>"But you were super happy about it! The kid was after <em>you</em>!"</p><p>They started to have an argument about it, the other members of the group also joined eventually, wich only got the discussion more noisy, so much they didn't even notice Luz and Amelia sneaking from their hiding spot and turning around the corner.</p><p>"AHHH- !!" Luz half screamed from emotion, but Amelia immediately stopped her by putting a hand over the girl's mouth.</p><p>"Shhh!" she shushed, even with her hand on Luz's mouth, she could tell by her eyes that she was overflowing with excitement, but they couldn't risk getting caught "Let's go somewhere you can freak out without them hearing us".</p><p>She then gestured for Luz to follow, but the kid misunderstood and held her hand instead, Amelia stopped dead in her tracks and stared, in return, Luz stared back like a confused puppy, and that was all it took to break Amelia, the Blight facepalmed herself and smiled, this was too adorable and she wasn't going to tell Luz to piss off, in compensation, she always looked around to make sure no one important saw her letting that kid hold her hand.</p><p>"Come on" She said, trying to ignore the fact that she just gave up her bravado in order to leave Luz comfortable.</p><p>Once they were far away from those hunters, she let go of Luz's hand to wordlessly tell her she could let it all out.</p><p>And oh boy, did Luz scream.</p><p>She stomped in place while finishing her fangirl screech, then started hopping around Amelia, who raised an eyebrow and smirked at her.</p><p>"That's was so AWESOME!! How did you even mold the fire like that?! My god!! And when you hid me inside the fire i thought i was gonna get burnt for a sec, but that was an illusion spell like that time we met wasn't it? How did you even made that portal look that real?? It looked like hell! I can-not express how amazing this is, you're amazing, i'm amazing, we're amazing!!"</p><p>Once again Amelia found herself not knowing exactly what to do, so she just enjoyed Luz's babbling.</p><p>"I was so ready to yell "<em>burn bitch!</em>" but that would blow our cover" Amelia said.</p><p>"But when we combined our voices, it sounded so creepy!"</p><p>"Well, that one was your idea, remember? Your acting was also on professional level" she reminded Luz, crossing her arms.</p><p>That part was improvised, when Amelia covered Luz in a curtain of fake fire, that was the cue for Luz to run away from there and join Amelia in her hiding spot without the demon hunters noticing, so she could watch as Amelia played with fire and illusions, shaping it into whatever she wanted. At some point, Luz suggested she casted a megaphone-like-thingy Gus had once made with his magic back when they pranked Boscha on the moonlight conjuring, and Amelia not only complied, but she showed her skills went even further by managing to twist the way their voices came out, they stood side by side speaking at the same pace, ocasionally having to cover their mouths with their hands to stifle their giggles.</p><p>"We sure taught them a lesson!" Luz beamed "But you were the one who surprised me this time. You <em>mixed</em> magic".</p><p>Amelia nodded, hand on her hip "I was never fond of the <em>"a witch needs focus"</em> bullshit, because that's what it is, bullshit".</p><p>"I heard that before" Luz laughed.</p><p>"Good, at least one more person knows it's bullshit" Amelia deadpanned.</p><p>"Hell yeah!" was all Luz said before hugging Amelia around the waist without warning.</p><p>And then Amelia froze, the only thing she could do was look down at Luz and do nothing, what the hell was she doing? And why?</p><p>"Uh... " Was all she managed to say.</p><p>Luz realized what she just did, noticing that hugging Amelia was like hugging a rock. She immediately let go, laughing nervously and rubbing the back of her head, giving the young woman some space.</p><p>"Sorry, sorry! I'm just so hyped from today, and i'm a big fan of hugs so um... Sorry. It was just really fun, i mean- you're fun, thanks Amelia".</p><p>Amelia cleared her throat and fixed her expression back to the resting bitch face, but it was quite a weak version of it "It's whatever, thanks for um... Hanging out. You're fun too, Luz. Hopefully we'll bump into each other when you're in Hexside" she said with a smile before booping Luz on the nose, now very much aware that she had a soft spot for this kid. Luz just chuckled in response and booped Amelia back.</p><p>Amelia couldn't help but chuckle, and since things were so at ease, her mind suggested something that she told herself was probably stupid, something she rarely does. In an attempt to mimic Luz's way to show affection, Amelia slowly lifted her hand, hesitating for a second, when Luz didn't flinch or back away, Amelia took it as a good sign and mechanically brushed her hand on Luz's hair like someone who has never pet a dog before. When Luz giggled, Amelia's ears twitched at the reaction, she didn't even bother stopping the warm smile that spread on her lips, she took more liberty and moved her hand more insistently, laughing at her own actions.</p><p>"Am i doing this right?" she asked awkwardly.</p><p>"You'll get there" Luz joked, not even bothering to fix her messy hair once her friend stopped.</p><p>This might not have been the course Luz imagined this day would take, but now she has a new friend that both embraces her weirdness and feels free to reveal their own rebelious nature. Amelia might not be a big weirdo like Luz is, but she's different, Luz from a few weeks ago would feel guilty about burning that guard's cape, but now? Nah, come on, that was really funny, she felt like she could do anything.</p><p>Now that she thinks about it, the whole thing reminded her of Lucia.</p><p>Like the one time she found out someone was bullying Luz, and after she begged her to not cause trouble, Lucia calmed herself down and instead showed her how to prank that person so hard they wouldn't bother her anymore, it worked way too well.</p><p>She could see that intense energy being something Lucia and Amelia would have in common.</p><p>Suddenly, Luz snapped out of her thoughts as they heard screams and crashing noises, when they turned around to look, they saw that the quadruped demon they had freed from the demon hunters was roaring around and bumping into walls, all while the guards tried to hold it down, there were a few things catching on fire too somehow, not to mention the people running around in panic.</p><p>They both stared with poker faces at the pure chaos they had caused, and slowly walked away from the scene like penguins.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I had some trouble to write this chapter too, the personal stuff going on along with college made it quite difficult to focus, and i'm sorry if somehow this chapter didn't come out as good because of it, i'll keep trying to do my best.</p><p>Anyway, there you go, more Amelia and Luz bonding, through spreading chaos and burning things, how adorable.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Bonus Art!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>That's probably what happened after last chapter.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Adopt the child.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Art made by: murupi02</p><p>Yes it's me, i created a tumblr account where i'll post art from toh, other fandoms and whatever else i like, but it's so recent it doesn't show up when i search and i don't know when it will, i don't know how to add links yet, please don't kill me, typing murupi02.tumblr.com on the search bar works tho. There might also be more art for this fanfic in that blog if i ever get the time to do it, this doodle was a little something to help while we don't get a new chapter, please don't repost.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The first day.</p><p>Lucia and Amelia meet.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We going to school baby.<br/>Warning: Some violence and blood, it's nothing fantastic tho.</p><p>I forgot to say that one of my headcanons in this au is that Lucia got her mother's accent, less thick but clearly noticeable, so basically she has been talking with a slight accent this entire time, i'm so sorry for forgetting, already made an edit on the beggining and end notes of chapter 1 and added their height chart so you can go back and check if you want, the accent thing might not be THAT important but i just think it's neat. In my AU Lucia was very different from what Luz was as a child, wich kind of contributed for her to have picked up more of Camila's than the local accent, but we'll learn a little more about it later, i'll leave some of that part of my AU's lore in the end notes.</p><p>Anyway, since we already know what happens with Luz on "the first day" episode, we'll mostly follow Lucia's and Amelia's side, enjoy and please leave comments!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hexside was all active with the start of the new semester, they even had a big welcome banner for everyone to see, how charming. As they walked towards the school they were once banned from, they caught sight of Amity, who was coming in their direction while an abomination copied her movements, the thing was carrying her books, quite a smart use of an abomination, the young witch had a genuine smile on her face as she approached them.</p><p>"Hi Luz, and Lucia! Congrats on getting in!" she greeted them with a raised hand, her abomination did the same gesture "And not being in the baby class" Amity whispered that part, getting an amused hum from Lucia.</p><p>"Thanks Amity! Up top!" Luz said, raising her hand for a high five. Apparently Amity didn't forgot that time she was taught about high fives, and lightly slapped Luz's hand, her abomination did the same, getting slime all over the girl's face.</p><p>Lucia smirked at the scene and took the chance to pet Amity's head, messing with her hair bit "Thanks kiddo" Amity just chuckled at that and fixed the loose hair strands before walking past them, heading off somewhere else as if she hadn't just gotten Luz's face covered in purple goo.</p><p>Luz cleaned her face with a <em>bleh</em> and opened a hopeful smile, babbling to herself about how being in Hexside was a great chance to not only discover her potential, but maybe meet a "hot yet vulnerable upperclassman", Lucia just narrowed her eyes at that weird statement and stared at her sister before walking away.</p><p>"Hey, don't abandon me!" Luz said, running to catch up.</p><p>- - -</p><p>Bump laughed loudly at the list Luz presented to him.</p><p>"Studying multiple tracks at once? No one does that".</p><p>Lucia frowned "What?"</p><p>"Then we'll be the first ones!" Luz pointed at herself and her sister.</p><p>"No you won't" Bump stated, holding up the book he had in hands for the humans to see "According to the rules, a good witch needs to hocus-focus" he then pointed up to the banners above his head "So you can only pick one of the nine tracks".</p><p>"That's bullshit" Luz blurted out.</p><p>Lucia's chin fell as she raised her eyebrows in shock, so did principal Bump, even Luz gasped after realizing what she just said, he looked like he was about to severely scold her, but then Lucia covered her sister's mouth with her own hand, ignoring the hums of protest and jumped in.</p><p>"She means uh- it's a vulgar human way to say all the tracks look amazing and she doesn't know wich one to pick!" Lucia exclaimed, sweating with a forced grin.</p><p>Bump's reaction eased and he cleaned his throat, believing the older Noceda's word "Then i will pick one for you".</p><p>Lucia was still too nervous to laugh at the fact that Bump did a eeny-meeny-miny-moe to choose Luz's track, it ended up being the potion track, Luz was being positive enough about it since like the principal said, "humans are full of liquids", but Lucia wasn't amused, she had the feeling her sister would try to get sneak in other tracks and get in trouble eventually, it was bound to happen, Lucia herself would do the same, she completely agreed with Luz, that this hocus-focus thing is bullshit, but she never expected Luz to say something like that, much less so suddenly.</p><p>"What about you?" Bump asked, turning towards Lucia.</p><p>"Uh... " she said dumbly "You sure you can't open an exception- "</p><p>"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" the principal said in a monotone voice, interrupting her "Oh, the abomination track. Humans are also made of chunks of mass, right?" he then drew a circle, changing Lucia's uniform from white to gray, black, and to a greyish-pink for her sleeves and leggings.</p><p>Lucia tsked, not all that happy about it.</p><p>"Now off to class" he said, seeming satisfied enough to make both of them float until they were outside of the room. He then closed the door with another spell, leaving the two of them alone.</p><p>Lucia slowly turned her face towards Luz, with both shock and something close to anger but not quite.</p><p>"What the hell was that??"</p><p>Luz raised her hands "Uh- what?"</p><p>"The principal talks about the track thing and you straight up say it's bullshit?" Lucia said incredulously while gesturing with her arms "Why would you say that??"</p><p>"I don't know! It just slipped!" Luz apologized "I'm really sorry" she looked down, clearly guilty.</p><p>She was too cute to be mad at, what the hell "Ugh... Okay" Lucia said through her teeth "Just don't get us expelled with a dirty mouth on the first damn day. What gave into you? you don't swear".</p><p>"I don't know, i just think these <em>rules</em> he talked about don't make any sense, then i exaggerated, sorry... ".</p><p>Lucia sighed and dragged her hand down her face "I agree with you" she then told her brain to just brush it off so she could focus on her first class, or try.</p><p>Hexside had classes with both young and slightly older students, sometimes it looked like a high school but... not, Lucia had to be with younger kids because of her recent knowledgement of magic, but Bump guaranteed her that it's different from a human school so she'll for sure be able to catch up, she assumed there were a few students closer to her age but she didn't know how many or how "close" that was, because apparently witches with some age difference could still study together since Luz did tell her that Gus is in the same class as Edric and Emira, so yeah, not like a human school.</p><p>When she entered the classroom, there were students already inside, probably waiting for class to begin, Lucia always hated coming to school early, she'd have to sit on her ass for long tedious minutes until the teacher decided to show up, but back in the human world, that was the only way it coincided with her mother's schedule, right now it's just pure annoyance.</p><p>The sight of a certain green haired student sitting in the front immediately caught her eye, the only one who wasn't as young as the other kids, she had her cheek prompted against her hand in boredom, but the second she noticed the new face, she eyed Lucia from head to toe with an unreadable expression, at the same time she seemed to be studying her features carefully, but Lucia could swear she was pretty much glaring or just staring very intensively, wich immediately made her uncomfy.</p><p>Being the new student, Lucia decided to not give it too much thought, and felt awkward when she realized that the seat beside that girl was the only one avaiable in the front, it was either that or sitting way in the back where she'd have to force her vision to see the board, so she decided to take her chances with that student and sat beside her, if she was probably around the human's age then maybe they could interact, she definitely has lot more in common with that witch than with some random kid five years younger, what could possibly go wrong? Not everyone in the boiling isles has to be an asshole.</p><p>Lucia sat with her arms on the desk, hands together and fidgeting, she then turned her head to the fellow student beside her and decided to introduce herself "Hey... i'm Luci- "</p><p>"Don't care".</p><p>Her countenance immediately fell to an unamused and grumpy frown.</p><p>
  <em>Gee... Another asshole.</em>
</p><p>The jerk then looked at Lucia dead in the eye, seeming uninterested "You know, this is just a garbage dump where people throw their children at an oppressive system to reinforce shit rules" she then went back to looking somewhere else again, disregarding Lucia's presence "Forget it. The professor will come soon anyway".</p><p><em>WHAT THE HELL</em>.</p><p>Thank god that the professor arrived, coming inside the classroom with his abomination carrying him like always.</p><p>"So i've been notified, that a new student will be joining us today, and from now on" the professor stated as he walked inside the classroom, soon his eyes landed on the only other grown person in the entire room "Miss Noceda, welcome. I assume you have no base whatsoever about the concepts of my lectures?"</p><p>Lucia pulled her lips in a thin line and slowly shook her head.</p><p>"Oh well, that is to be expected, but don't worry, miss Amelia will be assisting you until you're able to study on your own" he said while gesturing his hand at the green haired witch.</p><p>Amelia was visibly uncomfy with the idea, groaning quietly so he wouldn't notice, but Lucia was sitting right beside her so... she obviously heard it. Amelia stared at Lucia with a deadly <em>"well shit"</em> face, while the human just stared back in discomfort.</p><p>And just like that, the class started.</p><p>The professor did a quick review of what he taught them last semester, and apparently Amelia was supposed to get deeper in it for Lucia to take notes, but the witch refused to even look at her, so Lucia sighed and decided she would have to be the one taking initiative.</p><p>"So what does he means by different recipes?"</p><p>"He means abominations have recipes that are not the same" Amelia deadpanned unhelpfully.</p><p>Lucia was baffled "No shit sherlock, but what are those? What's so different?".</p><p>"If you can't summon an abomination from the ground, you gotta do it with the goop inside the damn pushcart" Amelia said impatiently "And you'll need a recipe for it".</p><p>"Gee, okay" Lucia muttered.</p><p>She payed attention to the professor for most of the time, but she'd ocasionally shift her focus to Amelia, who seemed to listen to the lecture with so much desinterest, she clearly didn't want to be there, Lucia took in the details of her appearance, the piercing in her right ear, the brown roots spreading through the wild green hair, the white and pink shirt with the school's name written in the front, different from the other uniform the rest of the class wore, maybe it was part of the sport clothing or something, but Lucia didn't really care about that, she'd pay more attention to the features on the young woman's face, her eyes were golden, but always looking sharp and threatening whenever she looked at Lucia, someone so beautiful being that unfriendly is a shame, and it's weird to ask questions when she looks like she could bite Lucia's head off, not to mention she would blatantly stare at the new student for whatever reason.</p><p>"Is your abomination's... <em>performance</em> while obeying a command affected by your magic skills or something?" Lucia asked Amelia, who didn't look at her but immediately frowned at the sound of her voice "Like, you tell it to walk to the other side of the room, but you suck at magic and it trips halfway?" Amelia was now scowling, growing more annoyed as Lucia started to ramble, something Luz also does sometimes when she gets carried away "Can an abomination even do something it's master can't do properly? Like, how is it gonna fight if you have no idea of how to do it? Will it fight on it's own or do you have to demonstrate- "</p><p>"Yes, no, and yeah i guess" Amelia interrupted in a monotone, but restrained voice.</p><p>Lucia was thrown off by that "So it's a no??"</p><p>"Ughh... " Amelia held the bridge of her nose "Can you just not?".</p><p>"What?" Lucia pressed on.</p><p>"Titan, i didn't know they were taking dumbasses in Hexside. Look, i'm amazing with all of that magic shit, if you wanna know wether an abomination can fail or not then why don't you just watch some loser instead?" she pointed at the people behind her with a thumb.</p><p><em>Oh... So she is THAT kind of asshole</em>. Lucia thought</p><p>She scowled "You're just gonna be an edgy jackass when you're supposed to help me??"</p><p>Amelia smiled mockingly "I don't wanna do this shit, thank you very much" she then quickly went back to glaring.</p><p>"Well guess what, me neither" Lucia retorted, glaring back.</p><p>"Great, then fuck off".</p><p><em>Dude</em>.</p><p>At this point Lucia didn't care she was bickering with someone in the middle of the class "You fuck off!".</p><p>"Make me, would love to see you try" the witch growled, growing more annoyed.</p><p>"Girl, who hurt you?"</p><p>"I'm not hurt" Amelia raised her eyebrow in genuine confusion .</p><p>"No- it's an expre- " Lucia then closed her eyes for a second and huffed through her nose "Oh my god... Can you just stop being an ass? I literally just got here".</p><p>"Then good luck" was all Amelia said, totally ignoring the first sentence.</p><p>Lucia felt her blood boil and held her pencil so tightly she might break it "Just answer the fucking questions!" Lucia hissed.</p><p>The command made Amelia bristle, she clenched her teeth "You can't even summon an abomination with that bileless heart of yours, what's the point?" she spat.</p><p>"I don't need one" Amelia to scoffed the second she said it "And the point is that you're being a bitch".</p><p>Amelia closed her hand in a tight fist, turning her torso towards Lucia "You wanna say that again, Noceda?"</p><p>And that was when Lucia had the most stupid and silly response.</p><p>"Bark bark".</p><p>Lucia smirked when that got a dumbfounded face from Amelia.</p><p>"What the fuck?"</p><p>"I said it again, in your language" Lucia sneered.</p><p>"What- "</p><p>"Bark bark grrr woof".</p><p>"You fucking- !!" Amelia raised her voice, looking like she was ready to pounce.</p><p>"Amelia?" the professor eyed them with a suspicious expression "Do any of you two wish to say something?"</p><p>Lucia turned her attention to him while Amelia kept glaring at her the entire time "Nope, just listening to Amelia's wonderfully wise lessions" she drawled while giving the green haired witch the side eye.</p><p>"Oh! Doing well miss Amelia?" he said smiling, oblivious to their bickering.</p><p>Amelia nearly growled at Lucia, being forced to actually pull instructions since the professor was looking "Of course your damn skills matter, if you're shit, the abomination is gonna be shit and just melt".</p><p>Lucia gave Amelia an unfriendly smirk, and they both immediately went back to glaring at each other after the professor turned towards the board and continued to write.</p><p>"It wasn't that hard, was it?" Lucia sneered, but in response she felt a boot stomp on her feet, her face shifted in pain as she bit back a hiss.</p><p>"Careful, Noceda. Playing with fire might get burned" Amelia said lowly, narrowing her eyes at the human.</p><p>She wasn't joking, was she?</p><p>"How did you even enrole being that much of a dumbass?" Amelia asked mockingly.</p><p>Lucia rolled her eyes "Same way everyone else does. Now aren't you too grown to be playing among those kids?"</p><p>"Bump made an exception, you ain't special" she said disdainfully before averting gaze again.</p><p>Lucia humphed and went back to her notes.</p><p><em>I should have chosen animals. I should have chosen the fucking animals. Anything but working with people</em>.</p><p>The rest of the class was torture, Amelia would give instructions here and there, but she was still being as nice as an angry mangoose. Luckily enough, the bell screamed, so Lucia took her notes and quickly got up, leaving the classroom as soon as possible among the other students, anything to get away from <em>that</em> witch, turning the corner, she pressed herself against the wall and let out a heavy sigh.</p><p>
  <em>Who does she thinks she is? Why did i had to team up with the asshole of the class? You know what, i'm just gonna go silent and- </em>
</p><p>She interrupted the thought and lightly slapped her own face "Get it together, Noceda. She <em>will</em> stop bitching and you will take in everything you can so you don't have to talk to her ever again, alright" that being said, Lucia took a deep breath and kept on walking.</p><p>However, she easily got distracted when she passed by a student from the beast keeping track, the kid was guiding a fucking unicorn somewhere, Lucia is pretty sure she'd pet the animals all the time if she was there, or raise an army, she let out a frustrated sigh, knowing she was stuck in the abomination track with that one person, and kept going on her way to the lockers, then she passed by the illusion track homeroom, it was full of mirrors. Gus was in there with Edric and Emira, either that or their illusions since they don't always attend to class, she stopped a bit and watched from the glass in the room's door, Edric had made it look like his arms were way more buff than they actually were, while Gus casted several copies of himself and his classmates.</p><p><em>Dude, that kid is good</em>.</p><p>All the other tracks looked so cool.</p><p>Lucia groaned and walked away, resisting to the urge to sneak outside and run.</p><p>Just as she was nearing the lockers hallway, she heard a faint familiar voice</p><p>"So you two go to the same school now, uh- that doesn't change anything!"</p><p>Lucia then heard a sigh, followed by the sound of a door closing and a "Huh?". As she got there, she saw Amity staring at the locker behind her as if searching for something, and that was when Lucia's evil brain lobe set to action as she slowly opened a wicked grin.</p><p>She sneaked behind Amity as silently as she could, not making a sound, whatever the girl was looking for was keeping her distracted, Lucia stood there, bending down, hands behind her own back like she wasn't about to-</p><p>"Whatcha looking at?" she said quickly in a whisper.</p><p>Amity jumped and yelped so loud Lucia flinched, the teen basically flailed her arms as she turned around and stepped back in a defensive stance, the look on her face was too funny. "Pfft- " she tried to hold it, but ended up laughing anyway.</p><p>Still recovering from the startle, Amity's face grew bright red and her ears lowered in embarrassment, she then closed her hands in fists by her sides and glared at the laughing human "Lucia!" she complained.</p><p>"Sorry" she clearly wasn't sorry "It was the perfect opportunity, i couldn't just miss it!"</p><p>Puffing her cheeks, Amity grumbled something under her breath and looked down "Don't sneak up on people! I could have casted a spell right on your face out of reflex".</p><p>"Ah yeah" Lucia said casually like she just realized it "But what's the fun without a little risk?" Amity humphed and crossed her arms at that "So who were you talking about?" she asked with something close to a cat mouth and a smirk.</p><p>And oh boy, Amity went red.</p><p>"N-no one!" she hurried to say "Just thinking loud! Uh- what time is it? You should go back to class!" she said dismissively.</p><p>"Don't wanna" Lucia response, once again way too casually, she then pointed at the spot Amity had been curiously staring at before having the life scared out of her "What's so sus about that locker?</p><p>"Sus? Oh- it's nothing, i just... could swear i heard a noise".</p><p>Lucia pursed her lip and stared with narrowed eyes "I'm not even gonna ask" she then moved to her locker and scratched it, making the demon open it's mouth, Lucia was still weirded out by it "I'm never gonna get used to the fact you're a living being... " she proceeded to remove her damn jacket from inside of it.</p><p>"You put your jacket inside of your locker??" Amity asked with a grimace.</p><p>"So i could wear it when Bump isn't looking, eheh" Lucia shrugged, folding the clothe in a bundle.</p><p>Amity held the bridge of her nose and sighed, changing subject "I see we're in the same track now" she said, standing beside her friend "How do you like it do far?"</p><p>"Hm... " Lucia said, leaning her hand from side to side in a gesture that said <em>more or less</em> "I've just been writting stuff yet, and my tutor is being an ass so it kinda sucks, and now i'm gonna go get a peek at the other tracks, have you seen the oracle kids? Rad. Bye" she turned around to walk away, but she felt a hand tug at the back of her tunic, keeping her from leaving "Hey- quit it!" she snapped.</p><p>"Mixing magic?" Amity asked carefully and let go, as if not wanting anyone near to hear them "You can't do that here! Are you really gonna get in trouble on your first day?"</p><p>"Pft- No!" Lucia said, darting her eyes from side to side "Maybe?" she drawled.</p><p>Amity was not amused.</p><p>Lucia then clicked her tongue dismissively and rolled her eyes "Aw come on, short stuff. I'll be back as fast as twitter cancelling someone for no reason".</p><p>"What??"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>Amity blinked, then released a chuckle "Why are you like this?"</p><p>"Women love it" Lucia joked with a lopsided grin and a wink.</p><p>The young Blight raised her eyebrows, but crossed her arms again and kept her cool, averting gaze, if Lucia noticed the blush in her cheeks, then she was kind enough to not mention it. Amity then felt way too curious to let it slip, she hesitated at first, but took the chance.</p><p>"Women?"</p><p>Lucia shrugged "Or men, whatever, whoever steals my heart first".</p><p>"Oh" Amity blurted out "Well that's something".</p><p>Her awkward reaction caught the Noceda's attention, but before Lucia could say anything else, principal Bump showed up like he just had teleported or something, Lucia immediately hid her jacket behind her back and stood there.</p><p>"There you are" he said, approaching the two of them "Amity, the inspector will arrive soon, since you're the top student of your track, i need you to head to the auditorium with the other students, and get ready to make your individual presentation. We want to give the inspector our best impression, yes?".</p><p>Amity shifted back to her perfect student stance "Ah, the show. I'll be going, principal Bump".</p><p>"Very well" he said with a nod, pleased, until he shifted his attention to Lucia "Shouldn't you be in class?",</p><p>"Uh- " Lucia began casually, hoping he wouldn't ask about her hands "Was just getting ready before next period".</p><p>He hummed, but seemed convinced enough, he turned around and walked away, probably going to wait for said inspector. Lucia just snorted and pulled up her uniform's sleeves so her forearms were showing, then put on her oversized jacket and did the same, now she felt comfy, funny enough the hoodie didn't bother her too much from under the jacket.</p><p>"Show you say?"</p><p>- - -</p><p>Amity didn't manage to convince Lucia to go back to class, she made excuses to follow her to the auditorium like, maybe she'd learn something from watching, she wanted to see whatever they were doing and watch their little show even though Amity reinforced it wasn't anything super amazing, but the woman followed her anyway and was basically pushing her towards the auditorium, promising to sit in the back and not make a sound, Amity wondered why she being so stubborn.</p><p>When Lucia saw the inspector, she immediately nicknamed her "Miss Trunchbull" and giggled where she sat, way in the back while principal Bump was sitting in the front, there were two other students from the abomination track, she can remember their faces, a girl who had horns on each side of her head, and a guy she mentally nicknamed "Pufferfish", they were watching as well, but none of them noticed when Lucia got inside so that's fine, she slouched in her seat and waited.</p><p>The kids did a few tricks with their abominations, like dancing or doing simple commands in a flashier manner, Lucia was kinda bored to be honest, but her eyes payed attention through her unamused expression when Amity proudly walked in, the kid started doing all kinds of stuff to show off, making her abomination stand on complicated poses, and even command it to lift her like she had all the balance in the world.</p><p>"And that concludes the presentation from the abomination track!" Amity said before bowing down, her abomination doing the same.</p><p>Bump started clapping "That was some real Hexside magic huh?" he said before elbowing the inspector.</p><p>"Yes, this is quite... good. But let's see if your student can put up more of a fight!" the inspector said with a creepy smile.</p><p>"Yes, yes!" Bump said nodding, then processed what the woman had said and his expression turned into confusion "Uh- wait what?"</p><p>Hearing that, Lucia furrowed her eyebrows but was a little more excited to watch something more interesting. The inspector got up and threw her clipboard aside like it was nothing, then approached Amity and slammed her hands towards the wooden stage, suddenly her face morphed and stretched out until it became an ugly, monstrous thing.</p><p>"Holy shit" Lucia let out.</p><p>"Is uh... this, part of the inspection?" Bump asked.</p><p>Amity looked just as taken aback as everyone else, but she kept on her play and did as the inspector mentioned "Abomination, fight!" she said, extending her arm to the woman's direction. The abomination groaned and charged, grabbing the inspector with both arms.</p><p>And that's when everything went wrong.</p><p>The woman's body stretched and grew, shifting into something huge and long like a serpent, the monster then easily threw Amity's abomination to the air, and swallowed it whole when it fell down into it's mouth, that thing was fucking big.</p><p>Lucia's danger radar screamed and she immediately got up.</p><p>"The magic in Glandus High was tasty... " said the monster in a double weird demonic voice while shifting and staring at Amity, who started to step back in fear "But i hope yours will be more filling".</p><p>Bump got on the stage and jumped in front of the student "Amity, stay back! She's an impostor!" he quickly drew a circle, but then the monster opened it's mouth and did some kind of magic draining thing, sucking principal Bump's green circle and eating it.</p><p>The color washed away from his skin, almost like he was dead, and he fell on his knees with shaking arms, not even having strength left to hold himself, then he fell on his stomach with a thud, and leaving Amity in the demon's aim.</p><p>"You guys, run!!" Lucia shouted.</p><p>The few students that were inside panicked and went for the exit, leaving the three of them alone with the demon.</p><p>Terrified, Amity went on fight or flight mode, she drew a circle, only for the monster to do the same thing it did to Bump, literally sucking the life out of Amity, the color slowly drained from the witch's pale skin, and she quickly lost strength, falling next to the principal's body "God fucking dammit!" the human yelled angrily.</p><p>Lucia doesn't knows what gave into her, but her legs moved on pure instinct before she could think straight, taking her to the stage. She took an ice glyph from her pocket and thanked god her and Luz always carried those now, she slammed it against the ground and a pointy chunk of ice emerged from the ground, piercing into the monster's tail, immediately getting a roar from the demon as a strange colored blood dripped from the "small" wound, compared to it's size, the wound was like just a painfull scratch.</p><p>"Come on you fucking fat snake!" Lucia taunted, realizing that as much as fear coursed through her body, courage spoke louder.</p><p>"Foolish child" said the demon, it then tried to hit her with it's tail, but Lucia dodged.</p><p>The basilisk then turned to Lucia, and the size difference didn't make the tension any better, it lounged towards the human, but Lucia pulled a light glyph right on time, blinding the monster.</p><p>
  <em>God i wish i had my bat right now.</em>
</p><p>She then quickly pulled another ice glyph, hitting the stunned monster right under the chin with an ice pillar, but that wasn't even close to being enough, the basilisk recovered way too fast for Lucia to act and swung at her with the length of it's muscular tail, throwing her against the chairs in the auditorium, and holy damn that hurt her back. Lucia was about to pull a glyph, but the demon then grabbed her with it's giant hand, and slammed her face first against the floor.</p><p>Lucia grunted in pain but still fought to get up, the monster simply laughed at her attempt and seized the back of her head, lifting it up before slamming her face against the ground again, not breaking her nose but certainly messing with the blood vessels, Lucia felt blood coming down her nostrils and dripping onto the floor, coursing down her mouth and chin, she closed her hands in a fist and hissed.</p><p>"Fuck... " she grunted, squeezing her eyes shut for a second because of the pain.</p><p>- - -</p><p>King stomped through the hallways, mad at whoever disturbed his "class", he heard the roaring and crashing noises becoming louder and louder as he came closer, in the end he found himself in front of the auditorium's door, he kicked them open and made himself heard.</p><p>"Excuse me! I demand you keep it down! Mr. King here is trying to mold the young minds of this school and you just- "</p><p>He immediately shut up when he came to face a huge snake-like demon, pinning a battered Lucia against the ground, she looked like she had been thrown around like a ragdoll, a bloody trail coming from nose down and probably making it look worse than it really was, Lucia turned her head to the side, enough for her to look at King and clench her teeth.</p><p>"Bad timing, cubone" she grunted, having the nerve to joke in a situation like this.</p><p>King was struck with shock and slowly started to step back as the monster stared at him with curiosity, "Uh- since i'm interrupting, i'm just gonna- " he left the room and ran away with a little scared yelp.</p><p>Lucia took advantage of the monster's distraction, and slided an ice glyph towards it, a huge ice wall rised from under the basilisk and launched it off of Lucia, who got up as fast as she could and tried to stand strong, making it clear that her magic wasn't the type to be sucked out. In response, the monster seemed to have had enough and scoffed at her before creeping towards the exit, probably not interested in a prey that can fight back and definitely on it's way to attack everyone else in the school, wich is really damn bad if you ask Lucia because her sister is out there.</p><p>"Shit!" Lucia cursed "You coward! I'm not done!!" she shouted, but was ignored, wich made anxiety hit her like a truck.</p><p>She winced at the pain on her side while feeling a bit dizzy, she must have either hit her head some point or her nose had been bleeding for longer than she thought, there would probably be some bruises after today, blood dripped down her chin, and she tried to clean some of it with the back of her hand only for more to come out. Her attention quickly shifted back to the two people laying on the stage, and she hurried to get up there.</p><p>"Oh gosh no" she said a bit too fast, kneeling down in front of them, she placed a hand on principal Bump's back, but he slowly shook his head.</p><p>"She... " he whispered, managing to gather enough strength to sit up in a way he wouldn't tumble again "-needs you more than i do... " of course, putting his student's safety first.</p><p>Lucia nodded, then held Amity by the shoulders "Kiddo, hey" she called, then lightly shook her, when that didn't work, she brought a hand to her friend's cheek and lightly slapped a few times, Amity flinched and perked up a little, barely managing to keep her eyes open, but the teen forced herself to stay awake and lazily darted her eyes around until her clouded vision focused on the person over her.</p><p>"Lu-cia... " she said with no energy "You're hurt... "</p><p>"No shit" Lucia said and sighed with relief, the kid wasn't dead, cool "You okay?"</p><p>"I feel... weak... " Amity said, closing her eyes for a bit and frowning "I'm so sorry... "</p><p>Lucia tsked and shushed her in comfort "Not your fault, just another shit day in the Boiling Isles" Lucia held her in her arms and brought her down the stage, placing her sitting on the ground with her back against the side of one of the seats "Hang in there, i'm just gonna go kill that thing before it hurts Luz or someone else and i'll be right back".</p><p>When she was about to stand up and go, Amity lightly tugged at her sleeve, hand trembling with the effort of lifting her arm "You'll get hurt again... " even with the weakness, the concern in her eyes was evident "Please... ".</p><p>Lucia's heart ached, but she couldn't stay there, so she just sighed and gave her a confident lopsided smile "Relax, it takes more than a giant monster to bring a Noceda down".</p><p>That being done, she left the auditorium and ran as fast as she could, trying to ignore the students on the floor she passed by, praying for the demon to not have reached Luz yet.</p><p>- - -</p><p>"Oh hell no!" Amelia hissed.</p><p>She barely turned the corner and found herself looking at a huge monster that was sucking magic out of other students, Amelia immediately stepped back so the thing wouldn't see her. what the hell was that? Whatever it is, Amelia couldn't draw any spells or else she'd end up like the rest of the school, unless she did it from behind, as a surprise attack, or too fast for the monster to drain her magic.</p><p>And she <em>really</em> really wanted to set it on fire.</p><p>But not so brute, she had to do this smart, getting help doesn't seem too appealing since even teachers were passed out on the ground now, oh well, left to the kids it is, and the thought made Amelia grin from ear to ear, it has been some time since she wished some action happened in that damn school.</p><p>The basilisk was now staring down at a girl who was pretty much shaking from fear, knowing that she would be the next to have her magic sucked out of her body, dark skin and whiteish hair, Amelia remembers she's one of the kids Amity is forced to hang out with, she was mean too like the others, but damn, that horrofied expression would make anyone feel pity.</p><p><em>I'm so gonna sneak from the back and fry that thing up</em>.</p><p>"Get back here you fucking worm piece of shit!!"</p><p>Amelia flinched at the sudden booming voice that interrupted her strategy making, who-</p><p>"Huh?" Said the basilisk, turning around to see the human she had beaten two minutes ago, Lucia was standing there with a bloody nose and a deadly glare, she looked like she was really going to kill somebody "You again?".</p><p>"Oh fuck me... " Amelia's shoulders slumped down and she growled in annoyance.</p><p>Lucia pulled a piece of paper from her pocket, and it had some sort of strange drawing in it just like she's seen when Luz did magic, the woman activated the glyph and threw a gush of freezing air at the monster, who snarled at having it's forearm frozen, but quickly recovered by slamming it towards Lucia, breaking the ice against the ground when her target dodged. Taking the chance, Lucia summoned an thick ice spike, that sprung from the ground and into the basilisk's direction, however, that demon was smart and fast, and it dodged the ice chunk, showing Lucia wasn't the only one capable of avoiding blows.</p><p>Amelia gawked and took in the scene, Lucia just tried to impale that demon, and was attacking as if she had no love for her own life, only full intention to attack. The basilisk grabbed Lucia with it's hand and lifted her off of the floor, but instead of waiting to be tossed, the human grinned like a maniac, trying to hide behind her whatever object she had in her free hand, wich confused her enemy.</p><p>"Let me see what you have" The basilisk demanded.</p><p>Lucia raised her arm in a stabbing position "A KNIFE!"</p><p>"No!!"</p><p>Next thing they know, the basilisk is screaming in pain from the blade that pierced through it's hand, and holy shit Amelia bets that hurt, to make everything worse, Lucia came to hold the base of the dagger with both hands and plunged it visibly deeper into the flesh, causing more blood to gush out and splash a few doplets on her face, wich made Amelia frown and stare in surprise, this human was NOT afraid to do damage. The monster let go of Lucia, who landed on the floor on one knee as she nearly lost balance and the knife stayed on the monster, Lucia had a pained expression on her face, and she squinted her eyes while putting a hand on her lower back, then on her side, all while the basilisk agonized, she was losing precious time there, but she looked at the terrified girl who was frozen against the lockers and yelled at her to run away, thankfully, the student obeyed. Amelia analyzed the human's features and quickly joined the dots, she saw that Lucia probably faced that monster earlier not so long ago, wich explains the bruises and her wobbly stance, so what the hell is she doing?? Why did she go after the damn thing? It's like a suicide mission.</p><p>Lucia simply cleaned some of the blood with the back of her hand for the hundreth time, and glared at the basilisk with deep, murderous reddish eyes, it was a sight Amelia has seen in herself a few times in her life, she can't remember when right now, but Lucia's raw courage with anything but empty threats, enraptured Amelia's attention, and for a moment she could only stare.</p><p>However, whatever damage the human had endured, was having consequences, Lucia stunned the monster for a moment with that stab but didn't had the strength to continue because of whatever pain she was feeling.</p><p><em>What a fucking genious... </em>Amelia thought sarcastically.</p><p>But even so, she didn't back down, once recovered, Lucia stood tall at the enormous creature, the dagger got stuck inside the monster's hand, but the basilisk removed it, the blood coagulating incredibly fast, leaving a leaking gash.</p><p>The basilisk backed away a bit, and looked down at Lucia like some people would look at a cockroach, that is, intimidated.</p><p>"I will fucking <em>eject</em> you out of this planet you shitty impostor fuck" Lucia growled with a wicked smile as blood dripped down her chin.</p><p>"This one… " the monster quavered "This one is dangerous!"</p><p>Now with the intention of definitely searching for preys that can't fight back, the basilisk raised it's huge tail in order to crush Lucia, who refused to back down, again, wich was just stupid in Amelia's perspective. Amelia left that corner and ran as fast as she could towards them, and drew a circle, suddenly an abomination hand emerged from beside Lucia and shoved her back, the hand was squashed into mush by the basilisk's tail, showing it could have been Lucia, who had hit a wall when she was pushed, Amelia then ran around the snake-like demon until she was facing it, becoming the only thing between that thing and the human. She quickly drew a huge circle, sending a blast of fire to the monster's face, blinding it so they'd have time to escape, if she had been any slower, the basilisk would have had the chance to drain her magic.</p><p>"What the- ?!" Lucia began before she felt an hand dig into her arm and yank her up, she was forced to run until they turned the next corner, the Basilisk looked for them, but scurried away, not wanting to fight Lucia again. Once the thing was far away, Lucia sighed with both frustration and relief, still looking at where the monster went "Hey, thanks for-"</p><p>Amelia turned to Lucia and shoved at her shoulders, causing her to hit the lockers behind her "What the hell was that, human?!"</p><p>"What??" Lucia yelped back, both for confusion at the question, and from realizing who she was about to thank, suddenly looking just as indignant and mad as Amelia "I was gonna get that thing!"</p><p>Amelia then stepped into her personal space and pointed her finger at the taller woman's chin, summoning a small flame as a threat, wich in response Lucia tilted her head up and raised her hands in surrender "The only thing you were going to get, was killed. If you hadn't gone bonkers over going full stabby stabby, i would have toasted that thing to ashes already. You ruined my shot!".</p><p>"Pft! Seriously??" Lucia scoffed angrily "I'll pretend that's not all talk, you witches can't get an inch closer to that thing without passing out, so it's funny that you have the nerve to complain about me stealing your kill since it wasn't even gonna happen- " Right after she barely finished her sentence, Amelia grabbed her nose and gripped painfully hard, all while wearing the unamused but annoyed look, Lucia groaned in pain, but this time she did it like a little bitch "Ow ow ow!"</p><p>Amelia didn't seem to mind getting her hand smeared in some blood, in fact, she pulled Lucia forward, forcing her to tilt her head down in order to look at the Blight, face a few inches from hers, and glared "Get in my way again and we'll see who's all talk!" she said lowly.</p><p>"You save me and then poke my wounds??" Lucia clenched her teeth together and yanked her head from the witch's hold, glaring back "So much for trying to do something!".</p><p>Amelia raised an eyebrow and smirked "I think our definitions of <em>something</em> are different".</p><p>Lucia simply leaned down with a blank expression and stared, Amelia stared back and they stayed like that for a moment, it was enough for the green haired witch to be able to finally pay attention to her features. Her hair, her dark skin, that perfect jawline, and those intense reddish eyes, not even the blood managed to damage her image, she's also tall.</p><p>
  <em>She's actually really cute-</em>
</p><p>Then Lucia flicked a finger at her forehead.</p><p>Amelia's immediately winced in pain and screamed.</p><p>"Bitch!!" she barked and gave the human a livid glare, she regrets everything, cute her ass.</p><p>She kicked Lucia's ankle, hard, earning a pained hiss from her, Lucia then snarled and seized the front of Amelia's shirt in both hands "Asshole!" she held the fabric so hard her hands trembled, but Amelia flicked a small flame with two fingers and pointed it at the young woman like it was a gun, ready to attack, despite that, Lucia didn't let go, in fact, she glared down like a silent conflict, them both challenging each other to attack first and face the consequences.</p><p>However, Lucia suddenly coughed and turned her head to the side, letting go and pushing her oponent a bit in the process, that was when she spat blood that had gone to the back of her throat instead of down her nostrils, Amelia just narrowed her eyes and made a disgusted noise in response before undoing the flame, Lucia was now holding her own nose to stop the bleeding, if she had been like this for awhile, then no wonder she looked dizzy when fighting the basilisk.</p><p>"You're too fragile for this place" she sneered "How did you even survive until now?"</p><p>Lucia's eyes perked up through the dizzyness "I'll show you fra- " They were interrupted by a loud roar that boomed through the hallways "Well shit, if you don't mind, i'm trying to hunt an ugly giant snake here" she said, on her way to walk past Amelia.</p><p>However, Amelia simply grabbed her by the back of her jacket "Are you deaf?? I told you to <em>not</em> get in my way" she growled.</p><p>"You're as pretty as you're annoying… " Lucia grumbled, barely audible.</p><p>But the second she saw Amelia's ears twitch, she knew she had heard, the witch gritted her teeth and scowled deeply, awestruck "What the fuck is that supposed to mean??"</p><p>"It means you're shit!" Lucia retorted and once again yanked free from Amelia's hold, finally putting some distance between them.</p><p>They stood there, glaring daggers at each other like long life enemies, they seemed more compelled to fight each other than the basilisk, however, they both had more important things to do. Amelia simply whiped her hair, eyeing the human with her flawless professional gaze, aggression clear behind her golden, narrowed eyes.</p><p>"You'll just make everything worse. Be wise for once and let the real witches get the job done" Amelia said, way too calmly for such dangerous eyes.</p><p>"Hell no, i'm going!".</p><p>"No you're not!"</p><p>They were basically kicking and elbowing each other in their way to find the basilisk, but at some point, Lucia just growled with frustration and decided she'd go from another path.</p><p>"I'll burn your face off after that basilisk is dealt with!" Amelia barked.</p><p>"Fuck you too!" Lucia said, and hardened her amused glare before storming off.</p><p>Amelia glared at the human's back and wondered why the hell this person is in the boiling isles, fucking Noceda… she's definitely Luz's older sister, cousin or whatever, this is a fucking nightmare, how did she got herself in this? Maybe Lucia will get eaten by the basilisk, that would be funny.</p><p>Speaking of, Amelia heard another loud noise, she followed it carefully in case the demon showed up out of nowhere, but apparently it was coming from the auditorium, she kicked the door open and met quite a messy scenario, the basilisk looked like it had fallen from some strange opening on the ceiling and onto the stage, hard enough to break the wood, and a dog student was currently reading the monster's wounded hand, by their side, was Luz and two other kids.</p><p>But what also caught her attention was the sight of Bump down out of weakness, and her sister sitting on the floor pretty much passed out, Amelia's eyes widened the slightest from worry, she ran and kneeled beside Amity and checked her features, no colour, no nothing, the basilisk had gotten her.</p><p>"He's reading your hand, and your future looks bleak" Luz said from where she stood.</p><p>Right after that, an abomination stretched the rope that held the weights over the stage, and a griffin that was in there for some reason cut it with it's beak, the weights fell right in the basilisk's stomach, and immediately dozens and dozens of blue glowing blobs flew free, off to return to their owner's bodies, Amelia watched with awe as two of these energy blobs flew to Bump and Amity's direction, going back inside their bodies.</p><p>- - -</p><p>Amity couldn't open her eyes, consciousness long gone but still on the edge of staying awake, she could feel how weak she was, and it felt terrible, she couldn't force herself to wake up, and she was left alone with her thoughts and worries, how was principal Bump? Did the school find help? What about the other students? Her siblings? What about Luz and Lucia?</p><p>Did the monster get them?</p><p>All she knew was that she felt cold and alone, way too weak to think, but then... out of nowhere, energy washed through her, like waking up from a dream, her body was working at full force again and the magic coursed through her veins. Amity shot her eyes open, and gasped like she'd been drowning this entire time, she immediately went back to where her mind had left, she was in the auditorium, there was a monster on the loose and-</p><p>She looked around, and was met with her big sister looking at her, with a rare but genuine worried look.</p><p>"Amelia?"</p><p>The older Blight sighed with relief, then gave her sister a small smile "You're not dead, nice".</p><p>Amity took a deep breath, well, that was a terrifying experience "Where is that monster?? How are- "</p><p>"Calm down, kid. Luz befriended the detention track kids and beat that thing up before i could do anything" she said, almost disappointed, Amity is not going to dwell on how her sister's chaotic nature creeps her out sometimes.</p><p>Principal Bump got up, fully back on normal "They better have a good explanation!" he said, glaring at the students on the stage along with the now defeated basilisk "You two stay inside of the school until i solve this mess. I will talk to the troublemakers" he spoke sternly.</p><p>Amelia wasn't all that compelled, but now that the danger was over, her demeanor was once again cold and her face blank, she simply got up, waiting for her sister to do the same "The fun is over" she sighed and gestured for Amity to come along "Get your ass up".</p><p>She did as her big sister told her and stood up, she looked back at Luz and the students from the detention track, it seemed like they had a discussion with principal Bump, and they managed to convince him to "do the right thing", Amity was surprised that those students were multitracking now, this was new to her, and Luz's uniform was now all colourful with the promise of studying every track, thinking about it, many new things have happened since Luz came in her life, Amity wanted to go over there to congrat and thank her and the others for saving them, but they seemed to still be celebrating, Amity could wait, so she stood there beside her sister and watched the scene play out.</p><p>However, a small pang of concern hit deep in her chest when she saw the blood in Amelia's hand "Did that beast get you too?".</p><p>Amelia quickly realized the red on her palm scoffed "No, that's not mine, i was smart enough to not let it see me or steal my magic. You cool? Seems like this whole shit show started here".</p><p>Amity nodded "I'm okay, we were doing a presentation for that impostor" she began with a bitter expression "Then the basilisk went "fight me", and then principal Bump went "fight me", and it just started sucking everyone's energy, i… couldn't even fight back".</p><p>Amelia tsked "Who cares? You're still breathing".</p><p>Amity didn't seem to feel reassured, but she didn't say anything about it and walked up to the exit, Amelia stayed a bit behind, glancing at Luz and the others one last time, but she brushed it off, she began to walk away in order to catch up with Amity.</p><p>When she left the auditorium, her sister was way ahead in the hallway "Hey- " she was about to call when a very much tired Lucia who was a little hunched over, turned around the corner running and nearly bumped into the younger Blight. Amelia noticed her nose wasn't gushing blood anymore, but she still looked kinda fucked, it's like she washed her face in a hurry and didn't fully remove all the blood since there was still some smeared in a few spots, like her chin, not to mention the small blood stains on her uniform and a bigger one on her chest from the nosebleed.</p><p>The next scene that played out left Amelia awestruck.</p><p>"Lucia!?" Amity called loudly in surprise, eyeing her frame.</p><p>"Tiny Blight!" the human called back, with her classical unamused eyes but an open smirk.</p><p>Amity stared up at Lucia, in return, the human got on one knee in front of her and held both of the girl's shoulders, as if it was the closest they'd get to any affectionate touch for now.</p><p>"Looking way better, kiddo" Lucia stated, eyeing Amity very carefully and satisfied to not find any injury.</p><p>"Is that blood??" Amity's joy shifted to worry when she laid her eyes on blood stains that could be found in both Lucia's clothes and face "Titan!"</p><p>"Woah woah, chill! That's just nosebleed, you should have seen the other guy" she joked "Ah shit, dude, i got a little lost when looking for that thing because this school is too big, but then i kind of saw Luz and those kids already going full chaos on the basilisk- Did you know it was a basilisk? Apparently they're supposed to be extinct and i stabbed it in the- no no, anyway, so i had to go all the way around back to the auditorium because no, i wasn't gonna jump down into that secret hideout Alice wonderland hole and break my legs- " she then stopped for a second like her brain just lagged "What was i saying again?"</p><p>Amity blinked, but let out a short chuckle "That... you had to take the longer way around to the auditorium?".</p><p>"Ah right- then i saw a bunch of kids going back to normal and i guessed you'd be cool too, wait… " Lucia then gasped dramatically and cupped Amity's cheeks, wich caught the girl by surprise "Or are you still a zombie? Who are you??"<br/><br/></p><p>Amity blinked, again, then glared playfully and put a palm flat on her friend's forehead, pushing it away while the human went back to holding her shoulders "Okay, now you're just talking nonsense! I think you had a concussion!"</p><p>"I'm serious!" Lucia laughed, not serious.</p><p>"Go wash yourself!"</p><p>"Already did!"</p><p>"You did it like your face!"</p><p>They went on with their stupid whatever they were doing, unaware of Amelia's burning gaze way in the back, she stood there and observed how the human she highly disliked joked with her sister without receiving fake indifference back, she watched how Amity lightly punched the human's shoulder, and how that woman insisted to mess with Amity like they were good friends.</p><p>What is this?</p><p>Why is this happening?</p><p>When did it even happen?</p><p>Something tugged deep inside Amelia's chest, telling her that this is sudden and disconcerting, her eyes narrowed as she stared with a piercing glare, what could possibly have made this possible? Whatever this is, it developed offscreen to her, and she decided to keep her glare.</p><p><em>I'm going to kill her... </em>Amelia thought, closing her hand so tighly her nails dug painfully into her palm.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>Lucia was in the middle of having Amity pushing her face back when she heard the auditorium's door open rather harshly, she let go of her friend and stood up, coming to see Luz and her new multitrack buddies.</p><p>"Lucia!" she called "Principal Bump wants to talk to you! It's a good thing, i swear!" she said before noticing the two green haired witches "Ello" she waved, receiving a shy wave back from Amity, and a sigh followed by a smirk from Amelia, Luz then ran back inside and left the door open.</p><p>"Huh?" Lucia said awkwardly.</p><p>She furrowed her eyebrows at realizing Amelia was there, and at the way Amelia responded to Luz, but didn't make any connection, telling herself that maybe the jerk didn't want to ignore a random kid greeting her. Lucia then cleared her throat and went back to her grumpy face, not all that thrilled about talking to Bump again, but whatever, Luz said it's a good thing, not that she can trust what Luz thinks the definition of "good" is since she'd probably consider doing community work and group projects a "good thing" too.</p><p>"Coming... " Lucia said and walked past Amity, but not before huffling her hair, in response, the young witch gave her a harmless frown followed by a smirk before she walked off.</p><p>When Lucia got closer to Amelia, who was giving her a death glare, she stopped dead in her tracks and stared awkwardly.</p><p>
  <em>Why does she looks so fucking angry??</em>
</p><p>"Uh- "</p><p>"Whatever, hope your stupid pretty face gets expelled" Amelia hissed before walking past Lucia and roughly bumping on her shoulder, very much intentionally.</p><p>Lucia made an incredulous expression and stared at her back as she stomped away.</p><p>
  <em>Stupid pretty face??</em>
</p><p>She tried to not let her anger and confusion get the better of her and took a deep, loud breath, she then went inside the auditorium, the adults were already taking the unconscious basilisk away, Lucia burried the intrusive thoughts of what they were going to do to that creature and walked up to where principal Bump stood with his hands behind his back, those kids Willow and Gus were chatting with Luz, who shifted her attention to her sister once she approached, only then Lucia noticed that her uniform was colorful now.</p><p>"Lucia" Bump began, eyeing the human up and down, she cringed under his gaze, knowing this was her first day and she looked pretty much busted "I am fully aware that you gave the basilisk quite a hard time, and vice versa as far as your bruises say, how's the nose?".</p><p>Lucia averted gaze with a shrug "Doing just fine, sir".</p><p>"And is that a jacket you're wearing over your uniform?".</p><p>"Uh... "</p><p>Bump sighed like he just wanted to be done with everything "Anyway... You acted brave in a dangerous situation, so did your sister and the troublemakers" he briefly looked at Luz and her new friends with a smile, he then grimaced a bit at the blood stains on Lucia's skin and clothes "I'm impressed you managed to wound the basilisk, you insisted to fight when i myself failed to protect you and my other students".</p><p>Lucia shifted uncomfortably, she was never good with taking these kinds of words "Yeeah i guess, thanks?"</p><p>"And for that, you also more than deserve the right to study the tracks you wish".</p><p>Now Lucia was listening. "Pog" she blurted out. When Bump stared at her with a blank expression, she cleared her throat and scratched her head "I mean, that's cool, uh… honestly i think it would be better if i-".</p><p>He simply drew a circle and changed her uniform's colors, but unlike Luz there was no sailor moon transformation, Lucia stared at her colorful sleeves and pants with a raised eyebrow, okay, that would do.</p><p>"We look gay" Lucia deadpanned to her sister, who was basically beaming with joy and ran to give her a tight hug around the waist, wich made her release a small "oof", the other kids laughed a bit "Kay kay that hurts- ow!" Lucia said quickly.</p><p>"Sorry!" Luz said, letting go and now scanning her sister's body "Are you okay??" she reached out.</p><p>"I've been worse, <em>quit staring</em>".</p><p>"Don't be like that, i'm trying to help!"</p><p>Viney and the others stared as both sisters had their little… thing, they couldn't tell if Lucia was being rude or not, but Luz didn't seem fazed and pestered her sister even more with questions about her well being.</p><p>"You were the one who <em>stabbed</em> that thing's hand??" Luz asked incredulously "Why did you even had a knife??"</p><p>"Reasons, and i was right to take it" Lucia retorted, glaring down at her sister.</p><p>"Dude!"</p><p>Even Bump couldn't help cracking a smile at that, but he interrupted them eventually "You know, only one of our students wanted to study every track" he began, drawing a circle that summoned a portrait full of paint and silly drawings "But unfortunately, she was never given the oportunity".</p><p>He then passed his hand over the portrait, cleaning all the paint and revealing the student underneath, who happened to be a very young, smug, and redheaded Eda, appearing to have that same mischievous glint in her eyes that she has today.</p><p>Lucia raised her eyebrows in surprise at the sight, but soon opened a fond smile while looking at it, Luz gasped and did the same after chuckling lightly, of course it was Eda.</p><p>"I should've known" Luz said calmly, looking out at the window.</p><p>Principal Bump had to take care of a few things, but in the end they decided to go on with the classes, with the condition of ending earlier than usual.</p><p>Viney and Luz basically dragged Lucia to the healing track homeroom along that griffin assistant in order to participate in a demonstration, she felt like a guinea pig, but if that meant free healing then so be it, the kids in that classroom took notes as Viney healed Lucia's scratches, none of them would leave a scar, Puddles then spat a lollipop at her.</p><p>"Humans also have red blood, interesting… " a girl with glasses muttered.</p><p>"It's because of the hemoglobin" Lucia said in boredom while laying on the demonstration table as Viney poked her arm around.</p><p>"Homo goblin what?"</p><p>Lucia snorted loudly while Luz just giggled in the back "Hemoglobin! It's how we call the protein that takes oxygen around, that's basic stuff".</p><p>The students ooed at the info and wrote that down "Can you tell us more about human terms?"</p><p>The older Noceda was still giggling a bit, but nodded "Okay- so, for witches like you and Viney, i don't think our bodies are any different if not for the bile sack, the ears and those fangs".</p><p>Luz watched as her sister basically began small without many details, like she just wanted to get it over with, but as they discussed about healing and human biology, in an attempt to mix things to make it easier for the Nocedas to get the hang of it, Lucia was soon basically infodumping and making questions herself, even going as far as gesturing here and there when she got caught up in it, it was a little funny since all of this was happening while she laid down and the students examined her bruises, but Luz couldn't help a smile, she was so happy for her, she remembers Lucia rarely interacted with anyone back in their human school, but it seems like she just needed to care enough, or be given the chance.</p><p><em>Yep, she still loves science</em>.</p><p>Another student drew a circle and tried out a spell on Lucia's nose, it did work, but she felt a painful crack as the slightly crooked cartilage twisted itself back into place, even Viney and the others grimaced at the sound, Lucia winced and sat up with an eep, rubbing the length of her sore nose.</p><p>"<em>Ow</em>" she drawled.</p><p>The girl grinned nervously and shrugged "Sorry".</p><p>Lucia kept rubbing her nose with hurt puppy eyes while puddles spat another lollipop.</p><p>Even after all the crazy basilisk situation, the day didn't go so bad, Lucia credits it to the fact she decided to not go back to the abomination class that day, she still came back to the owl house with some bruises and blood on her tunic tho, wich immediately caught Eda's attention when Hooty opened the door for them.</p><p>"You know, when i told you to punch the first kid you saw to stablish dominance, i meant just a punch, not a whole homicide attempt" Eda said with slightly widened eyes when she saw the state in wich Lucia came back.</p><p>"Murder is okay… " Lucia grumbled, and went on her way to take a bath upstairs.</p><p>Eda blinked.</p><p>"Hah! I agree!" King chimed in "Violencia!"</p><p>Luz looked at him with a weird smile, both appreciating his cuteness and disturbed by his morals "I should stop teaching you spanish".</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh boy, they met, and they're not going well, and seems like Amelia had a small bad influence in Luz's vocabulary, oh well.</p><p>Yes, Lucia somehow did not realize Amelia is related to Amity, she's smart but no one is free from brain farts, that detail from swiss_sides was too fun for me to not borrow it lol.</p><p>Do you guys have any questions about the au? I'll be glad to answer what i can, you can send these questions in the comments or on my tumblr, murupi02.</p><p>Some stuff about Lucia's childhood:</p><p>-She was also labeled as a weirdo since she was small, but unlike Luz who's bubbly and always willing to try making friends as we see in the show, Lucia just gave up really early and chose to avoid much talk with the others due to the frustration of being rejected over and over again, now don't get confused, she wasn't shy, she just stared at the people she struggled to mingle with and said "fuck it". That lack of interaction with people other than a few adults and her family changed when she grew older, but she was still a weirdo like Luz, another something they have in common, it's funny when you think about it since she still managed to befriend Amity, Amelia on the other hand is a walking volcano.</p><p>My god how many more details am i going to put in this fanfic.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Don't work your life away.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A more calm, slow paced chapter after the two last chaotic episodes we got, and some talking before we get into... other stuff.</p><p>Enjoy and leave comments!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Ow! Gentle you dumbass!" Lucia complained when Luz partially removed the old bandaid on the right side of her jaw.</p><p>"I <em>am</em> being gentle!" Luz retorted, but that earned her a bop on the top of her head "Hey! I'm doing you a favor!"</p><p>"Frikin favor, it's too early for this shi- " Luz then roughly pulled the rest of the bandaid off, causing her sister to hiss before she could swear.</p><p>Luz then grabbed a new bandaid "Next time you face a monster, at least don't go trying to get yourself killed!" she scolded "You're lucky we had Viney bring us to the healing track class, or else you'd have like, three new scars".</p><p>"Fighting basilisks is not easy, nitwit".</p><p>"Might not be but i fought it smart with the others and none of us got beaten like that!"</p><p>Lucia scowled and grumbled like an upset puppy and let Luz put the bandaid on the small scratch on her jaw, replacing the old one.</p><p>"Stop being difficult and lift your shirt" Luz demanded, Lucia wanted to get this over with, so she just turned around to sit with her back facing Luz, and lifted her shirt enough to expose most of it. Despite not being able to see her, she could feel Luz grimacing at the one cut in particular she had on the left side of her upper back, she didn't realize it was there until back when Viney pointed it out as they used her as a guinea pig.</p><p>The thing is that one of the most inexperienced kids from the healing track was the one to try fixing that one, due to the kid's poor skills, the spell was working really damn slowly, gradually regenerating the tissue with the promise of no scars, but until then, she'd have to keep it covered unless she wanted to feel the pain of her shirt brushing against the wound.</p><p>Luz took a square shaped bandaid that was bigger than the others, and carefully covered the scratch with it, pressing her fingertips in order to leave it fully sticking.</p><p>"There, all done" she said, in response Lucia just humphed and fixed her stripped shirt before putting her jacket on and slouching back on the couch. Luz gave her sister a quick peck on the cheek, wich only got a grumpy frown in return, then stood up "And stay there. Your back needs rest".</p><p>Alright, Lucia got some bruises from when the basilisk threw her against several chairs a couple days ago, but does she wants to do the reasonable thing and stay put? Nope.</p><p>"I literally wasn't built to sit still!"</p><p>"Well, neither was i" Luz said in a more convinced tone "But i still stayed in bed when i got sick and let you shove chicken soup down my throat for almost a decade, now rest!".</p><p>Lucia leaned her head back, opened her mouth to the ceiling, and let out a impressively long, and dramatic groan.</p><p>"Aaaa… "</p><p>"Lucia!"</p><p>She groaned even louder out of spite.</p><p>"AAAAAAA".</p><p>Luz shook her head and walked towards the stairs "I'll put on my uniform" Lucia stopped groaning and immediately sat up, so Luz frowned and walked back, pushing her sister back onto the couch "No no no, you're not even allowed to go!"</p><p>"Don't know anything about that" Lucia protested, trying to get up again.</p><p>"Yes you do!" Luz pressed her hands on Lucia's shoulders and shoved her down again "Last time principal Bump saw you, you were all bloody, if he doesn't want you to show up until tomorrow, then i am not going to let you push yourself. Who's trying to get us in trouble now huh?"</p><p>Lucia narrowed her eyes and glared "You know i can just push you over and go, right?"</p><p>"Hey kid! You changed your clothes yet?" Eda called from the kitchen.</p><p>"I'm going!" Luz yelled back, she did go, but not before sending her sister one last glare to urge her to rest.</p><p>"Ugh… " Lucia covered her eyes with the back of her hand "She's so caring and considerate, i couldn't be more disappointed at this kid" she deadpanned, and feeling bored, grabbed her phone.</p><p>A few minutes later, Luz came down with her multicolored uniform, she yoinked the crystal ball that is usually on the table in front of the couch, placed it on the kitchen table and tapped it, it didn't take long until Lucia heard Willow and Gus's voice coming from it, she just sighed and stayed on the couch, reading whatever archives she had downloaded in it.</p><p>Getting even more bored and not feeling like reading, she checked her gallery instead and swiped through old pictures, aside from her memes folder, most of the pictures were from places she went, things she filmed, like any dog or cat she met on the street, and of course, pictures of herself and her family.</p><p>She stumbled upon some photos their mom took of them, Luz was just a little younger, shorter too she remembers, they were supposed to be washing something for their mother in the backyard, but like the dummies they are, at some point they grabbed buckets and started throwing water at each other, Lucia can't even remember wich one of them started it, but they were so distracted they didn't notice Camila taking the closest phone, wich happened to be Lucia's, and starting to film them.</p><p><em>"Tonta- you got water in my nose!</em>" Lucia said in the video.</p><p><em>"Poseidon quivers before me!"</em> Luz stated victoriously.</p><p>Lucia opened a devilish grin and was about throw a full bucket on Luz, who squeaked, but that was when she finally noticed Camila and faltered half way, still grinning <em>"Mami! Que estás haciendo?"</em></p><p>Camila burst into laughter, making the camera shake a bit.</p><p>That was a good day.</p><p>Lucia closed the video and fondly held the phone on her chest as she laid down, Luz grew so much, so fast, maybe one day their heights would be closer to each other, who knows? She liked to tease her sister about her height despite the age and all, but that would be funny, if she suddenly went through a growth spurt.</p><p>But like always, everytime Lucia thinks of that, she thinks of how much things change, she looked over at Luz who was freaking Gus out with a dumb thumb trick, and compared it to how their lives used to be, Luz made new friends, discovered a lost method to do magic, learned a new spell by herself, and… now it all has escalated to the point she managed to team up with some kids and defeat a basilisk without getting hurt in the process, while Lucia didn't had the same luck because… she was alone.</p><p>Luz becomes more independent everyday and eventually won't need Lucia anymore.</p><p>
  <em>That's a good thing, right?</em>
</p><p>She should be happy, but when she thinks about it, a sense of dread sparks inside her chest.</p><p>The laughing coming from King and Luz shook her out of whatever mental hole she was in, oh, the comedy hour thing whatever it's called, if Eda is so mortified, then that has to be it. The crystal ball glowed red and beeped like an alarm clock, showing that it's already eight in the morning.</p><p>"School time!" Luz exclaimed "We see each other in class!"</p><p>Willow waved her bye while Gus continued to freak out about Luz's thumb before the call ended.</p><p>Luz promised to finish her comedy hour with King when she returned, and gave him a goodbye kiss, she then quickly ran over to Lucia and kissed her forehead.</p><p>"Can i at least walk you there?" Lucia asked miserably.</p><p>"Nope!" Luz answered quickly.</p><p>Lucia groaned at that, they're too alike when it comes to "taking care of each other" instincts.</p><p>"Try not to miss me while i'm gone!" Luz chanted as she passed through the back door, then slammed it closed.</p><p>While that triggered both hers and King's dog mode, because the little demon was already at the door all needy, Luz came back not even two minutes after she left, announcing that there would be no school.</p><p>"Pixie infestation?" Lucia asked.</p><p>Luz nodded while King rested on top of her head "Yep, no school today".</p><p>"We should go and catch some".</p><p>"No" Luz deadpanned with a stern look while pointing at Lucia, not wanting her to get up, that only got another annoyed hiss out of her sister.</p><p>"You suck… "</p><p>She went back to laying down and sulking while the usual weird owl house activities took place, like Hooty vomiting the mail and Eda throwing away a death letter, but Lucia didn't even react to that, she just crossed her arms and waited for life to pass by. Well, at least she has this strange family to keep her entertained-</p><p>"Ooh a carnival is in town today!" Eda stated in excitement.</p><p>Lucia was baffled and sat up "You gotta be fucking kidding me" she whispered and facepalmed herself as Luz babbled about something envolving her and King.</p><p>"Let's all three of us go!".</p><p>"Luz… " Lucia growled "If you're gonna tell me i can't go, i swear- ".</p><p>"Oh- uh" Luz seemed conflicted, eventually lowering her head "Now i feel bad".</p><p>However, Eda approached the older human and placed a hand on her shoulder "Sorry, kid, i know it sounds unfair, but that was just really bad timing for you to get yourself hurt. You gotta let that body of yours heal, or else i'm sure we'll have problems later with the old man saying i'm neglecting you".</p><p>With the way she said it, Lucia wonders if there's toys in the carnival that could physically injure her or bring pain, wich is why the older witch really doesn't want her to go.</p><p>"But- Eda! It's not that bad, i'm fine!"</p><p>"I'll give you ten snails if you don't let Hooty do anything crazy".</p><p>"Deal".</p><p>"Here" Eda summoned a few coins that fell ungracefully over Lucia's lap "If you're still sane by the time we're back, i'll give you the other half".</p><p>Funny enough, just as the trio left, the bird tube showed up with a camera, sunglasses and a hat. Lucia watched with a weirded out face as he quickly got distracted by a fly and stretched after the insect, demanding it to talk to him.</p><p><em>Like hell i'm staying here</em>. She thought.</p><p>Lucia got up, and quietly left the house, making sure Hooty wouldn't notice, for some reason she feels like he'll spend a lot of time with that fly and… she decided to not think too much about how his mind works, she might lose her own in the process.</p><p>The moment she stepped outside, she realized she had no idea of what she was going to do, or where she was going to go, she could just disobey Eda and go to the carnival, but some bitter thing poked at her mind, telling her that since they wanted to have fun without her, she should do the same, the problem is that Lucia didn't had any friends, or much creativity early in the morning, and that honestly made her shoulders slump a bit, but she brushed it off and decided to go for a walk, she could figure this out.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>She could not figure this out.</p><p>Lucia was currently sitting on a sidewalk, doing nothing but bounce her leg, since when is finding something to do that difficult? She's just been walking around aimlessly with a very grumpy face and nothing came to mind.</p><p>"Ugh… " she complained to the universe and got up. Her last option was to check up on Hexside to see what's up.</p><p>Getting closer to the school, Lucia could see very few students outside, some walking away, and some talking to each other while staring at the building, they probably wanted to see how this situation was going to end, meanwhile, Lucia wondered if she could sneak inside and see the pixies for herself while everyone was distracted, she didn't even know if pixies looked like glowing fairy thingies or like any other ugly and gross demons in the boiling isles, but anything is better than staying confined in that house with Hooty, no offense to the bird.</p><p>But if principal Bump saw her, that would be a problem, it's cool to know he cares enough about his students, but the boredom was killing her, she looked around, catching nothing, honestly, she didn't want to approach the school anymore, maybe going back to the owl house and sleeping to skip the day was a better option, as strange as it might seem, Lucia is starting to realize she doesn't like to be alone, but at the same time she didn't like people, and she took a deep breath as she anticipated things that made her heartbeat grow faster, things were too complicated, she didn't know what to do, she didn't-</p><p>"Hi Lucia!"</p><p>She jumped and turned around, hands closed into fists as she stared at whoever startled the life out of her. Turns out she had to look down, to see two green haired gremlins giggling at her reaction.</p><p>"What the- " Lucia blurted out, but then huffed through her mouth in relief "frick?".</p><p>"You don't want to go in there" Edric said, referring to the school.</p><p>"Trust us" Emira added. Lucia eyed them carefully, narrowing her eyes, they didn't seem fazed tho, since their last encounter, the stiffness between them seemed to have eased up.</p><p>"I could tell you to not sneak up on people like that, but i'd rather let you screw yourselves in the future instead" she said, voice monotone. The twins just laughed even more "The hell you two want?"</p><p>Emira shrugged "We just... saw you and came to talk. Can't we simply want to be around you out of sheer will?"</p><p>Lucia's expression became even more incredulous "Yes and no".</p><p>"Harsh" Edric commented "What are you doing here? We heard from Mittens you got hurt" as he said that, they both eyed the bandaid on the side of her jaw.</p><p>She smirked and scoffed lightly "It wasn't that bad, can move just fine" she said, and then eyed them from head to toe, they were still wearing their uniforms "What are <em>you</em> two doing here? Shouldn't you be in that manor?".</p><p>"Nah" Emira waved off "We basically got a day off for free, i won't be the one to tell mom and dad".</p><p>Lucia just hummed in response.</p><p>The twins studied her features as their conversation quickly dried up, leaving them standing there in silence, Edric was the one to speak up first.</p><p>"You seem… idle".</p><p>Lucia just shrugged, not denying it.</p><p>Emira tilted her head "Where's Luz and that dog?"</p><p>She huffed and looked away "I don't care, they said i gotta rest or something, but i can't".</p><p>"Oh well" Emira said as her and Edric looked at each other "Wanna hang out with us instead?" she offered with a smile.</p><p>Lucia stared at them, considering it for a moment, but her mind just had to complicate everything, and she thought that following them around would only bother them, plus, they'll probably spend the day pranking people, and she's not quite in the mood, it's a weird feeling, a quite depressive one, but instead of fighting it, she just shook her head, wich was unlike her given the context.</p><p>"Not today" she dismissed "Where's tiny Blight?"</p><p>Emira seemed to notice her aura, but Edric was oblivious to it and answered her first "Where else? Shoving her face in books, to <em>"make up"</em> for today's lack of class".</p><p>"Geez" Lucia said, frowning a bit more than she already was "Someone needs to learn how to loose up".</p><p>"Good to know we finally agree on something" Edric said with a smirk "You didn't see how she got last weekend, it's crazy".</p><p>At this point Lucia is smart enough to notice that most times they see Amity, she's carrying books or doing something connected to her studies, so she can imagine "Don't you guys slack off on weekends?"</p><p>"Oh, Ed and i are normal, but Mittens goes nonstop, specially before the exams" Emira chimed it, still studying Lucia, but then, an invisible light bulb seemed to lighten on top of her head, and she opened a mischievous smile "Actually, you should go see it yourself!".</p><p>"What- " Before Lucia knew what was happening, Edric got behind her and started pushing her forward while Emira pulled her by the wrist "Hey- what the hell dude!"</p><p>"Come on!" Edric said as he pushed the taller woman "It's funny!"</p><p>After being literally both pushed and dragged by the twins for a solid minute, she patted them away, wich only got giggles out of the siblings, and a wink from Emira in particular. Lucia started following them on her own instead of being dragged, and in no time they reached the library, not that far from Hexside.</p><p>Lucia sighed, this is the second time she's been there… legally that is.</p><p>Once they wandered further inside, they came to face a pretty much concentrated Amity with her face really close to whatever book she was reading, she'd occasionally write something on notes beside it, and by the amount of paper gathered, she probably has been doing this for awhile, wich made Lucia cringe. She had to admit that the intense seriousness in the teen's expression was indeed kinda funny, considering the fact that it looks like she's having a fight with the subject and that's too much heavy energy to be put in a book, but was she struggling with a topic in particular?</p><p>That aside, Lucia decided to do the obvious evil thing, and walked up to Amity from behind, the young Blight was so invested in her studies that she didn't notice, and when she felt Lucia's hand on her on shoulder, she squeaked, jumping so hard that even the human flinched in reflex.</p><p>Amity covered her mouth and looked up at who had scared the life out of her.</p><p>"Lucia!!" she scolded, but then someone made a  <em>shh</em> noise and she toned it down "<em>Why do you keep doing this?!</em>" she hissed still a little loudly. Okay, she was happy to see Lucia, but if she gets scared everytime they meet, she'll still get mad.</p><p>Lucia laughed at the sight, Amity looked like an angry kitten, the human then raised her hands, eyes full of fake innocence "In my defense" Lucia now put a hand on her own chest and leaned down, closer to Amity "It wasn't entirely my fault this time, i was gonna clap my hands, but this is funnier".</p><p>Amity pressed her hand flat on Lucia's face and pushed her head back, wich only got another laugh from her friend "Grow up".</p><p>"Look who's talking" she joked.</p><p>Amity's face was now red "This is a totally normal height for my age!".</p><p>"I was still taller when i was your age".</p><p>The green haired witch glared at her and shook her head.</p><p>"Aw come on. All i wanted to do was greet my companion, who happens to be jumpy".</p><p>"I'm not- " she was about to retort, but heard her siblings giggling, her eyes searched for them, and the second they realized they were seen, they comically hid behind a shelf "Oh i see how it is… " she huffed, turning back to her book with a still very much angry face.</p><p>Ed and Em left their not really good hiding spot, and came to stand on each side of their little sister, who just remained in the chair, hoping they'll let her to her work "Oh come on mittens, that's rude of you" said Emira.</p><p>"Not even a hi?" Edric teased too as they both got their faces close to Amity's.</p><p>"Ugh!" she growled, putting her pencil down "Can't you see i'm busy??"</p><p>"School's closed, kid" Lucia stated the obvious.</p><p>"Then i need to study the subjects myself" she replied shortly.</p><p>The twins looked at each other, then at Lucia, and shrugged, all while wearing amused smiles.</p><p>Lucia noticed Emira crossed her arms and looked up at her, she could tell that this witch wanted something from her "Ed and i wanna go check out a foreign caravan but… " she gestured at Amity, who frowned even more as she tried to read.</p><p>"We can't leave Mittens all alone for that long" Edric finished.</p><p>Lucia couldn't help but crack a smug grin at that, seems like they've been more zealous over their sister, but at the same time it bugs them, since they're still carefree pranksters and want to fly on their own "Are you asking me to babysit her?" she raised an eyebrow.</p><p>Amity went red with embarrassment and her ears lowered as much as they could "I don't need to be taken care of!" she growled, turning to look back at her siblings.</p><p>Edric chuckled and ignored her protest "Someone else was supposed to be doing it, but she's not around. We trust you".</p><p>Although she appreciated the trust, Lucia could easily tell them off, however her eyes gazed upwards and she pouted, thinking, was this the first thing she'd consider to kill her boredom? No. Did she want to let those two of all people use her to escape responsibility? Not really. But is it better than going back to the owl house and bearing Hooty's yelling? Definitely.</p><p>Just the thought of being around Hooty when he's talking nonstop makes her shiver in discomfort.</p><p>"Yeah whatever" she waved dismissively "Go commit war crimes while i disturb Amity's study session".</p><p>Amity was incredulous "What??" she questioned as her eyes darted to Lucia and her siblings.</p><p>"Bye mittens! Have fun marrying that book!" Emira said while already running away with Edric.</p><p>Amity clenched her teeth while holding her pen tighter before just groaning again, and placing a hand on her forehead as she glared down at the book like it was the worst thing that ever happened to her.</p><p><em>Damn, she looks annoyed today</em>.</p><p>"What's that about?" Lucia asked, grabbing a chair by the same table and turning it around, so she could sit with her arms resting on the chair's back.</p><p>Amity only gave her the side eye, clearly bothered by the fact Lucia was sitting with the chair turned backwards "The third variation of the heximal system".</p><p>Lucia dragged her chair a little closer with an annoying noise, not really interested but still a little curious "Oh yeah?" Amity rolled her eyes and kept scowling, taking more notes. Lucia furrowed her eyebrows at that, her eyes looking down to the book in confusion.</p><p>She took a look at the numbers and formulas, most of them not present in human concepts, it was like physics but… not?? It's weird and has symbols in it, overall, it looked complex, and Lucia couldn't understand a thing.</p><p>"That thing looks complicated".</p><p>"Because it is! Titan!" Amity snapped, coming out angrier than she intended, whatever stress she had been poorly hiding was now obvious.</p><p>Lucia was taken aback by the reaction, Amity opened up around her before and etc, but that level of plain rudeness wasn't something the young Blight had ever directed at her, specially since she was someone who always tried to seem composed. Looking closer, Lucia could notice very faint lines under the teen's eyes, she probably didn't sleep well last night, wich when combined with too much work and little rest, is a recipe for mood swings and mental health degradation.</p><p>Noticing what she just did, Amity now furrowed her eyebrows with guilt, not looking at Lucia and taking a deep breath, too upset to apologize "I'm just… trying to figure this out".</p><p>Something about her voice was just off.</p><p>"You sure are in a bad mood today, short stuff" Lucia's eyes were slightly surprised for a moment, but she kept staring "Last time you got that mad was over that dumb fire spell, and you weren't nearly as angry" she pointed out.</p><p>"You're overthinking" Amity argued weakly, her lowered eyes begging Lucia to drop it, but her friend was having none of it.</p><p>"Nah" Lucia said casually in a lower voice, wich caught Amity's attention as she finally turned to look at her.</p><p>Lucia's eyes had darkened with something Amity didn't know how to put, the red tone in them seemed brighter than usual as they were slightly narrowed, and the intense gaze implied clear attention.</p><p>"Your pencil's tip is super worn, and the two papers on top of that note pile are hiding pages full of scratched stuff, wich means you've been failing to reach a conclusion for some time already," she said, pointing at the multiple paper sheets Amity didn't even remembered she had left there "Also that chapter is way too forward in the book, considering the semester just started. You're not making up for the lack of class today, you're almost two subjects ahead".</p><p>By now Amity had stopped everything she was doing and just held eye contact with Lucia, as if there wasn't any other place to direct her eyes to. The way the older woman suddenly showed this observant behavior made her feel… slightly unsettled, not because she doesn't trust Lucia or feels unsafe when alone with her, in fact she was opening up way faster than she wanted to, but it was because Lucia hadn't acted like this before, why now? The casual voice she used to point out the details mixed with some hidden undertone is just contradicting.</p><p>"You're pushing yourself too hard, kid" Lucia stated, gaze going back to the usual grumpiness they're used to "Take a break" she said, more like a demand.</p><p>Amity almost forgot to respond "What? No, Lucia- i have to solve this" she spoke like Lucia just suggested something as absurd as giving the emperor the middle finger.</p><p>"No you don't, why don't you at least do it on your bed or something?".</p><p>"I- " Amity faltered, recovering right after "Didn't felt like going home, is all".</p><p>Lucia took a mental note on that, but didn't comment on it, she studied Amity's features, once again watching the barely noticeable small line under her golden eyes, probably covered by makeup. She's so young and already about to burn herself out "You can solve it later. Today should be a day off, not the damn opposite".</p><p>"Lucia, no, i- " she didn't had the chance to finish since Lucia rudely closed the book in front of her "Hey!"</p><p>"Come on you angry green baby, you gotta learn how to chill" she took the book and got up, lifting it so Amity couldn't reach out for it, it took all of her self control to not be mean and tease the kid about it "Too much of anything is bad, right?"</p><p>Amity frowned at her, but as the words sunk in, her shoulders lowered and she sighed "I suppose, look- i know, but it's better this way" Lucia made a comically weirded out face at what she said, wich made Amity cross her arms since this woman didn't considered her words as reasonable "What?" she asked.</p><p>"I'm gonna throw it in the river" Lucia taunted, holding the book up.</p><p>"No!" Amity yelped, running up to Lucia just for the human to lift the book even higher, the height difference between them was ridiculous since Amity barely reached her shoulder "Give it back!"</p><p>"Nope".</p><p>"Lucia!"</p><p>"Stop burning yourself out".</p><p>"I'm not- burning!" she retorted, oblivious to the fact it's an expression, then tried to go for the book again but at this point it was pathetic "You- tall human!"</p><p>"How many hours of sleep did you had last night?" Lucia asked plainly.</p><p>"What? I- don't know! It doesn't matter!" Amity snapped again. Lucia lowered the book suggestively, Amity snatched it from her hand and kept it close to her chest.</p><p>"<em>Shhh!</em>" said someone else in the library.</p><p>Lucia grinned "See? How rude of you".</p><p>Amity only sighed in exasperation, not really mad at Lucia, she just looked tired, she also seemed to realize that knowing her friend as far as she does, Lucia was probably going to mess with her until she stopped studying, it was her way of showing she cares.</p><p>When Amity walked past Lucia, the human perked up and followed her "Where are you going?" Amity just pointed upwards, Lucia's gaze followed and she saw "kid's corner" written over the entrance of the room Amity was already stepping in.</p><p>Must be that extra credit activity she mentioned, reading to children.</p><p>"Hah, cute".</p><p>"What?" Amity turned her head a bit, not seeming to actually have heard.</p><p>"Nothing" Lucia waved off.</p><p>She started looking around, quite an adorable spot, full of children's books, the floor decorated with a big cat shaped carpet, and a few toys by the corner of the room.</p><p>"You do know Ed and Em were just being themselves, right?" Amity said as she looked for the book she would be reading today "You don't have to keep following me, i'm fine".</p><p>This could easily come off as rude, it kind of is, and even though Lucia has the feeling she's being more genuine than snarky, she wonders if she's being nothing but a bother, wich she very much didn't want to be, since Amity is the only other person she managed to befriend in this place.</p><p>"Plus, i don't want you to scare the kids" she added.</p><p>"Oh come on, i raised Luz! I can handle not traumatizing a few toddlers" she said while approaching Amity.</p><p>"Oh yeah?" The witch said without much confidence.</p><p>Lucia sighed and threw her hand up "Okay now you're just- "</p><p>Amity flinched just as Lucia's hand reached the same level of her face, blinking on reflex as she did so.</p><p>Lucia immediately interrupted herself at the reaction, and stopped her hand in the middle of the gesture, at first she was puzzled, but eventually the short silence was too much, and sensing how uncomfortable the girl was, she stepped back to give Amity more space. Lucia was just gesturing for emphasis, there was no ill intention behind it.</p><p>Amity swallowed and cleared her throat, she then shot Lucia a stern look "No, you should probably leave".</p><p>That made Lucia press her lips in a thin line as she frowned. Alright, Amity doesn't want her here, whether she's acting like this because of stress or whatever, Lucia will respect it, she shouldn't have let the twins take her there "Okay, okay, i'm going" she sighed.</p><p>She had already turned around in order to leave, so she didn't see Amity's regretful look as she watched her walk to the exit.</p><p>Lucia blew air through her lips like a horse and shrugged in defeat, she was about to leave, until she felt something poke her leg. Looking down, she was met with four, tiny, and curious little demons staring at her, she stared back at them with slight surprise as it seemed like they just materialized out of nowhere.</p><p>"Why are you so tall?" a little girl with a single thick eyebrow asked, pointing her finger at Lucia.</p><p>"Your ears are so round" a really deep voiced kid stated, he was red skinned and his eyes were not visible, Lucia widened her eyes a bit at the monster voice in such a small body, how is it going to be when he grows up??</p><p>Amity tensed up, seeing she was a bit too late, she stared at Lucia with a restrained but pretty much worried expression, hoping the human wouldn't do anything stupid.</p><p>"Uh… " Lucia drawled, not really knowing how she should act "I'm um, human, so… round ears, see?".</p><p>The childish curiosity in the kids was evident, some of them giggled while the deep voiced little demon put his hands on his cheeks and gasped.</p><p>"Can i touch them? Pretty please?" he asked.</p><p>Lucia smiled awkwardly, may god help her "Kay".</p><p>The children barely even reached her knees, so she kneeled in front of him and leaned a forward before tucking her bangs behind her ears, to make the cartilage more visible.</p><p>The little boy jumped excitedly and moved to touch Lucia's left ear, he poked the shell and quickly recoiled his hand, giggling like a normal child would when touching an animal for the first time, it was so funny Lucia cracked a smile through her unamused expression. Another child came to pinch Lucia's right ear, widening their eyes and letting out "ooo" noises.</p><p>"Ow- gentle" Lucia laughed.</p><p>Amity stared at the scene of four kids patting Lucia's face and ears and let out a small chuckle, forgetting why she was even worried in the first place. Deciding to rescue Lucia from the pinching assault, she approached them and cleared her throat, immediately catching the kids attention.</p><p>"Miss Amity, look!" said the deep voiced kid "Humans are so tall!"</p><p>Amity smiled fondly at him, pretty much amused as one of the kids started climbing Lucia's arm while the human occasionally tried to shake them off in panic.</p><p>"Braxus, everyone, this is my friend, Lucia" she said, features and voice now soft "If you're done poking her, we can start reading".</p><p>"Can she stay, miss Amity?" Braxus asked, now latching onto Lucia's leg, seems like he took a liking into her, Lucia only laughed nervously and flashed Amity a "<em>what can i do?</em>" face.</p><p>Amity can't say no when all the kids are doing puppy eyes, and when Lucia repeatedly shook her head at her, she decided that maybe it could serve as payback for all of Lucia's teasing.</p><p>"Of course".</p><p>"Yaaaaay!" all the kids chanted, Lucia just glared.</p><p>"Alright, everyone gather up!" Amity called, three giggling children obeyed and sat around her, while Lucia had to slowly walk there with a giggling Braxus holding onto her leg like a koala, she's happy he doesn't have claws...</p><p>Amity sat down on a small chair, and held up a book for the children to see "This, is the story of the bird, and the silent squirrel".</p><p>Lucia sat on the floor cross legged among the children, basically in the middle, with Braxus now hanging on her shoulder as he too paid attention to the story.</p><p>It was about a bird that was often praised for his singing. The bird also excelled at flying, catching bugs, building nests, and anything else birds do, however, the constant praise made him arrogant and rude.</p><p>One day, said bird met a foreign squirrel that was said to be deaf, the bird tried to show off with it's best skill, singing, but the squirrel not only wasn't amused, it was offended by the bird's behaviour, the bird was convinced that the squirrel was deaf, why else wouldn't he be smiling, talking, and admiring him?</p><p>"The bird tried to show off skill after skill, but no matter what he did, the squirrel couldn't care less and walked down the hill".</p><p>Lucia was pretty much bored, hand supporting her face as she was forced to listen to the story for children, Braxus now sitting on her shoulders and holding onto her head while another kid was climbing her like those toys in the park. The reading went on, Lucia fighting the urge to nap.</p><p>As the story went on, the bird eventually went apeshit and started yelling at the squirrel, asking why he didn't like him etc.</p><p>"<em>It must be because you are just a silly, deaf squirrel!</em>" Amity said with a fake angry expression, narrating the bird "But then, with a big smile, the squirrel let out a laugh that could be heard from a mile, and spoke up for the first time, as the bird crossed the line. <em>Who says i'm deaf?</em> The squirrel asked".</p><p>Lucia perked up a little bit. <em>"Hah wow, plot twist"</em>. She thought to herself.</p><p>Turns out the squirrel wasn't deaf, he just didn't like the bird's arrogance and rude attitude, and no amount of flashy skills could change that. The book ended like what you can expect from a children's book, the bird did some rethinking, and only then he managed to befriend the squirrel, who was kind enough to forgive him, Lucia however, thinks it would have been much easier if the squirrel just punched the bird in the beak, but she gets the moral of the story, "don't be an asshole".</p><p>The kids got up and cheered as Amity closed the book, finishing the story, they seemed to really like those reading sessions, and Lucia wouldn't say it out loud, but it was adorable.</p><p>While all the kids left, running and giggling, Braxus hugged Amity and gave her his goodbyes, the young Blight seemed used to it and put a hand on his head, Lucia wouldn't doubt it if she was told he does that everytime, what she didn't expect, was for him to run to her afterwards and also hug her leg, she nearly stepped back in surprise.</p><p>"Bye miss Lucia! Thank you too!"</p><p>Lucia's mouth was a bit agape as she looked at him, but eventually, she hesitantly bent down and patted his head twice, trying to mimic Amity's previous gesture. For someone who's way more affectionate than Amity herself, Lucia sure seemed to be quite nervous around those children. Braxus let go and ran to catch up with his friends, leaving Amity and Lucia there.</p><p>"Well, that was quite a sight" Amity said with a smug, crossing her arms and staring at Lucia.</p><p>"Shut up… " Lucia growled "Got... any other plans for today?"</p><p>"I need to go back to studying".</p><p>"Ugh… " Lucia dragged a hand down her face "No!".</p><p>Amity tilted her head "What?". Her friend looked determined to disturb her schedule today.</p><p>"Let's go for a walk, i'll buy you ice cream" Lucia offered, with an uninterested expression that is a big contrast with her voice tone, wich was still monotone, but not as unfriendly as her face.</p><p>Amity raised an eyebrow, she doesn't knows why Lucia is doing this "Are you trying to bribe me with treats?"</p><p>She couldn't help but smirk at that and shrug "It works with Luz".</p><p>"And… you mean, ice scream?"</p><p>Lucia furrowed her eyebrows at that but nodded regardless</p><p>"I don't really eat that stuff since i was younger" Amity dismissed, turning back to the table and gathering her notes inside the book she left there.</p><p>"Huh??" Lucia was visibly shocked "Why the hell not?"</p><p>"Mom says the sugar might make me too energetic and lose focus".</p><p><em>Yikes</em>. The human thought.</p><p>Alright, maybe something simple will lighten her mood.</p><p>"Hey… " Lucia approached and gestured for Amity to come closer, the Blight complied with a lazy roll of her eyes, Lucia then leaned down and brought a hand beside her mouth, as if there was any need to whisper, so Amity turned her ear to listen "Why not just today?"</p><p>When Amity turned her head back to face Lucia, the human had a both mischievous, but fond look in her eyes, her expression softened in a way she doesn't allows other people to see, and she hopes Amity won't make her regret it.</p><p>"I won't tell if you don't" She whispered to Amity.</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>Lucia swears she never thought she'd have her food scream at her.</p><p>The strawberry ice scream looked like a normal ice cream, but… it screams, every time she ate a bit of it, the ball would let out a tiny shriek, she almost felt bad, Amity however, opted for a flavour called scorched chocolate, wich Lucia thinks is a shame, she would have laughed if Amity had chosen mint. Amity seemed used to the tiny screams, obviously, since she lives in the boiling isles, and ate the ice scream without problem, in fact, she chuckled when one shriek in particular scared the hell out of Lucia, almost making her drop it.</p><p>"Taking joy in my suffering?" asked Lucia, if it wasn't for the context of the situation, with them doing something like walking around while eating ice scream, it would have been hard to tell if she was teasing or threatening.</p><p>Amity suspects Lucia might not be any better with social interactions than she is, more experienced? For sure, considering her age and the times she ended up giving useful advice, but Amity can't remember seeing her socializing with a single person her own age, not even once. Luz has befriended Willow, Gus, and Amity herself, as for Lucia, she can't be sure, people's lives happen offscreen, maybe it's just a dumb thought.</p><p>There's definitely people who'd be happy to have Lucia as a friend.</p><p>However, just as she had that last thought, a group of slightly older witches passed by, and briefly stared at the two, wether because they recognized Amity as a Blight, wether because they saw the human's round ears, or whatever other reason. Lucia snapped her head at them and glared, until they showed visible discomfort and looked away, walking past them and barely giving glances.</p><p>After that, Lucia quickly went back to her usual demeanor and licked the bottom of her ice scream as it started to melt, like nothing had happened, meanwhile, Amity stared at her with squinted eyes, and a puzzled face.</p><p><em>Oh so that's why</em>. Amity's mind concluded.</p><p>Lucia stole a glance at Amity, noticing her expression "What?"</p><p>Amity gave her a resting witch face, wordlessly telling Lucia she knows what it is, or should "Do you always do that?"</p><p>"Oh, that?" Lucia realized and shrugged "Yeah i guess" The way she said it so casually caused Amity to stare at her even longer "What??"</p><p>"Why do you just glare at people like that as if the world is your deadly enemy? Not everyone is out to devour you".</p><p>Lucia lightly grimaced, like Amity was talking nonsense "Who can guarantee you they're not? A glare a day keeps the danger away" she said before gobbling up her ice scream to free the thing from it's misery "Plus, pretty faces attract a lot of it".</p><p>"What do you even mean by that?"</p><p>"It's just my way to be, kid" she said, shoving her hands in her pockets "You don't always make the friendliest faces on a regular basis either, do you?".</p><p>"Yeah but i don't send death threats through my eyes" Amity pointed, it's a good point.</p><p>Lucia chuckled, but it seemed more like she wanted to find a way to not get into the subject, like she can't help it "I'm used to it".</p><p>Thinking back on Lucia's actions from before, Amity tried to collect what she knows until now. Lucia walked her halfway back home from the mere possibility that Amity's tormentor could come back to bother her despite the fact they just met, the first thing she asked after Amity opened up about how much a certain someone confused her, was if she had been hurt, she found out through Ed and Em that Lucia was the one who intimidated them into not taking her diary, and with the way she acted in the basilisk situation, it's clear enough to Amity that Lucia has quite a protective nature, combine that with unfriendliness, and you have a human guard dog.</p><p>Amity doesn't know about their lives in the human realm, or what else shaped who Lucia is today, it becomes even more of an enigma when she thinks of the difference between the Noceda sisters. Luz is positive, friendly, pretty- she means- happy, and keeps her arms wide open for whoever wishes to hug, but Lucia is grumpy, intimidating, and always on guard around people.</p><p>How come there's such a huge contrast? Of course people have different personalities and just that could be enough explanation, but there's a few things that…</p><p>"Your ice cream is melting" Lucia stated.</p><p>Amity's ears twitched as she was brought back to reality, and she hurried to finish the ice scream before it became a mess in her hand.</p><p>Lucia laughed and watched Amity's rush to finish the sweet, once done, she quickly threw the shell in a trash can, and wiped her hand with a handkerchief. They found a bench that was completely free and decided to sit on it and do nothing but stare at the woods, Lucia had both arms spread on top of the bench's back, again, legs open, while Amity remained all polite.</p><p>"Would have been funnier if you had chosen mint, but it still matches your hair".</p><p>"Huh?" Amity said dumbly.</p><p>"Your hair, dummy" Lucia said, taking the liberty to brush her fingertips through the front of Amity's hair, threading her fingers through her roots.</p><p>Amity batted her hand away like a cat "When you think of my hair, you think of brown?"</p><p>Lucia stopped, and looked upwards, thinking "Yeah kinda?".</p><p>They went silent for a moment.</p><p>"You're weird" Amity said with an amused smile "And have a strange sense of humour".</p><p>"I know" Lucia admitted "So, the hair, is it your Azura nerdiness manifesting?".</p><p>To her dismay, Amity didn't really laugh or anything, she displayed a weak smile and averted gaze. "No" was all she said.</p><p>That's… not a reaction Lucia was expecting for something like this.</p><p>"Anyway" Lucia said, ready to change the subject, but not to one that would make Amity more comfortable "I know you're a top student, working hard" before Amity could say anything back, she hurried to continue "But it's not a sin to take a break, you know?".</p><p>The last part seemed to trigger something in Amity, because her already uncertain expression turned into something sour, and indignant "What do you know, Lucia?" she growled defensively while the woman watched her "It's not so easy like you think it is, i worked hard for so long to get to the top, one little slip could push me several steps down, and you want to tell me i should just be slacking?"</p><p>Something that annoyed Amity about Lucia, was how unfazed she looked whenever the teen blurted out these things. Amitg had her words and feelings being brushed off and ignored her entire life, and her brain always anticipates the moment Lucia would do it too, but when the human stares at her like that, it's not with a condescending look, or a smug thing in her lips, she's just… seeing her, and Amity doesn't really know how to react to that, it always catches her off guard, it confuses her because she can't tell if it's a good thing or not.</p><p>"I'm not telling you to slack off, i'm telling you to not forget your dumb organic body has needs, so has your brain" she said, not changing her plain and grumpy face, wich feels just a bit unsettling for some reason "Unless you're secretly a machine or something. Is that too hard for you to get?" she spat the last sentence like an insult.</p><p>Amity lowered her gaze and scowled, guilt quickly rising up, she's been snappy with Lucia since they saw each other today, not even the reading session with the kids changed that. She did some self reflection since she talked to Luz in the library incident, and tried really hard to change the way she acted around her, slowly improving since then, but even though Lucia had a way smoother start with her than Luz did, Amity was just so worn up from the inside, stressed with constant thoughts of "i have to do this, i have to do that", that now she's been harsh with someone who just bought her ice scream.</p><p>She feels so stupid, she's stupid with everyone, this is what she is, what is she doing?</p><p>"Lucia, i'm sorry" Amity sighed in frustration, fingertips rubbing her forehead and not being able to take the guilt anymore "You're right, i'm worked up. I let that cloud my judgement and i've been doing nothing but snap at you today. It's just- "</p><p>Lucia resisted the urge to look away, suddenly feeling awkward.</p><p>"I'm just <em>tired</em>" Amity's voice sounded just like what she just said "I'm really sorry- "</p><p>"Hey, stop that" Lucia blurted out. She flicked a finger at the side of Amity's head, wich immediately brought her back and caused her to yelp "I forgave you forty minutes ago, edgy nerd… "</p><p>Might not have been the best response, but it could have been worse.</p><p>Amity glared and rubbed the spot she's been flicked at, this woman confuses her "Do you actually care or are you just mean??".</p><p>"I'm the perfect mix of both, thank you very much" she responded with a hint of pride, smiling down at her without problem, this is the face of someone who didn't took her brief moments of discourtesy to heart.</p><p>Might as well be another trait she shares with Luz, and Amity seems to be thankful for that, even though she doesn't know if this makes her feel better or worse. For now Amity will focus on the moment, both of them are kinda awkward with each other, but somehow get along fine enough, a weird and yet functional combination, an unlikely friendship.</p><p>"I just… Don't want to risk ruining the path i've been walking" Amity looked up to the clouds, fluffy and thick enough to give the Boiling Isles some rest from the sun "I would be lying if i said it isn't overwhelming sometimes, but i'm used to it" she shrugged lightly, repeating Lucia's words from before in the end.</p><p>"What do your parents think of that?"</p><p>Amity didn't seem very fond of the question, and Lucia could feel she was now stepping in a strange territory by the way her friend's shoulders tensed.</p><p>"They'd be disappointed if they caught me failing, but who wouldn't".</p><p>Lucia wonders what their definition of "failure" is, but she didn't ask any more after that, now is not the time or place for this, and on top of all that, Lucia has to remind herself that it's none of her business.</p><p>"So, what do you… " the girl's curious and unsure voice broke the slightly tense moment "What did you wanted to do back in your world? How are human covens like?".</p><p>Lucia snorted softly at that, quite an abrupt way to change the subject, but she let it happen "We don't get in covens, we get graduations. You can compare college to it i guess" she began "When you finish school, you choose the course you want to specialize in, and go to a college that corresponds to that course you want".</p><p>Amity hummed "Sounds like covens".</p><p>"Yeah, graduating is kinda like that, but human life is way different".</p><p>"How so?"</p><p>"You can graduate on multiple courses throughout your life, or not do college at all, your life will probably be harder, but the authorities won't come for your ass because of it".</p><p>"Oh" Amity said dumbly, seeming to understand "Then i'll rephrase… what did you want to course in <em>college</em>?"</p><p>Lucia grimaced and pressed her lips in a thin line, she looked down for a bit, giving enough time for Amity to wonder if she should even have asked "I don't know?? Nothing that important i bet, i can't even tell what i'm doing in Hexside".</p><p>Despite the pessimist thinking, Amity tried to be a bit positive "You're smart enough, you'll figure it out".</p><p>"Hah, Hope so" she chuckled "What about you? What do you wanna be when you grow up?"</p><p>"I'll join the emperor's coven" Amity replied rather quickly, straightening her posture with pride.</p><p>Lucia snorted "Wow, not even an "i want to join". <em>The confidence</em>".</p><p>Amity let out a small laugh "I've been aiming at that for a long time".</p><p>"Of course, you're that one kid who wants to go to fucking Harvard".</p><p>"I don't know what that is, but watch your language".</p><p>"Ehehe… " Lucia scratched her nose in fake embarrassment.</p><p>They settled in a comfortable silence for once, just listening to their surroundings, wich had grown quieter with the decrease of movement. Amity didn't thought she'd find herself sitting on a random bench, beside a tall human, with the taste of chocolate faintly lingering in her mouth, it's been awhile since she had the chance to eat that kind of sweet, it was almost strange to do it now, but enjoyable regardless.</p><p>Lucia however, maybe because she couldn't sit still or didn't know what to do when a conversation dries out, would occasionally break the quietness with chit chatting or telling her friend random things like…</p><p>"-also did you know Luz cries in the night reading Azura fanfic?"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>Keeping up with the things she was saying weren't always easy, Lucia's brain made connections different from the way normal people do, managing to jump from a subject to a completely unrelated one from a completely different scale, but Amity still appreciated the effort, even though she slowly started finding it hard to keep her eyes attentive.</p><p>"And there was this one time when i… "</p><p>Lucia's voice became something distant as tiredness slowly caught up to Amity, she let out an yawn, lazily covering her mouth and inevitably exposing her fangs, wich Lucia couldn't help but stare at, she wondered if babysitting aggressive kids is more of a dangerous task, like anything else in this place. Amity eventually only processed a bit of the words being pronounced, wich led her to notice more how they came out in a distinct way when Lucia was the one saying them.</p><p>"You speak a little different" Amity stated, not even noticing she interrupted her.</p><p>"Ah" Lucia let out in amusement "It's the accent, ask Luz about it".</p><p>Amity nodded, eyelids betraying her.</p><p>"-then she started crying, wich is kinda funny, but i- " Lucia stopped mid sentence and tensed up when she felt Amity suddenly lean her head on her shoulder, like she just fell to the side.</p><p>Lucia looked down, to see she was asleep!</p><p>
  <em>"I'm used to it" my ass, you tired demon.</em>
</p><p>She suddenly felt like a cat owner and had a mini inner glitch going on, not wanting to move an inch in order to not wake the kid up, but at the same time feeling like she <em>had</em> to move. If anyone looked at them, they'd be seeing Amity napping while Lucia visibly tried to contain her panic, wich was quite a funny scene, she didn't know what to do or what not to do besides not moving, her eye twitched as she turned her head to the witch sleeping beside her, with her arms crossed and expression relaxed, Lucia took a deep breath, loosening her muscles and accepting her fate.</p><p>"You really doing this now? Right here?" Lucia complained.</p><p>No response.</p><p><em>Cool, i'm stuck forever</em>.</p><p>Lucia slouched against the bench and looked up, then got bored and once again looked at Amity, peacefully taking a nap against her shoulder, she felt nostalgic in a way, for the fact that she had found herself in this kind of situation before, back in her world.</p><p>It might be stupid, but she's starting to feel a bit... responsible, and only now she realized how pushy she was about pointing to Amity that she was overworking herself. Why does she care? It's just some prissy kid and… well… okay, that was harsh, Amity is not a bad kid and she knows it, she's also Luz's friend, but Lucia started having this instinctive pang recently. Lucia is fully aware that she's a protective idiot but… is that all she is? What's wrong with her?</p><p>She stayed with Amity because she didn't want to be alone.</p><p>The thought brought this feeling of anxiety inside her chest, and just that was enough to mess with her breathing, but before it could escalate, she looked at Amity again, and took a deep breath.</p><p>Lucia doesn't know when these things started bothering her, but for now she'll swallow it, and not move. This is fine, just hanging out, and doing nothing, this is fine...</p><p> </p><p>- - -</p><p> </p><p>By the time Amity woke up, Lucia was bouncing both legs restlessly, causing a small amount of friction, wich curiously enough wasn't really what woke her up. Amity realized she was leaning against Lucia's shoulder and moved to straighten her posture despite the groggyness.</p><p>"You're finally awake" Lucia sighed and immediately started stretching all of her limbs.</p><p>Amity perked up and her ears lowered in embarrassment "I-i slept? How long was i out?"</p><p>"Twenty-nine minutes" Lucia replied rather casually as she stretched her hands "Yes, i counted".</p><p>"What?!" Amity yelped and got up, patting nonexisting dust off of her school clothes, cheeks red "I can't believe this… "</p><p>Lucia rolled her eyes and leaned forward, elbows on her knees "Feeling a little bit more recharged, short stuff?"</p><p>Still looking a bit embarrassed, Amity let out a long sigh, tense features relaxing a bit "Yeah, thanks and, um… " she couldn't help but laugh the next part out "Sorry for sleeping on you".</p><p>"Pft, i've been doing this for fourteen years now" Lucia said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Amity found it amusing how she was way nicer than it looked, Lucia better expect some teasing in future.</p><p>Amity smiled a bit "I guess you ended up having to take care of me in a way".</p><p>"If smuggling sugar and letting you nap in public is taking care of you, then sure, i'm the cool uncle".</p><p>Her friend chuckled in response "I think it was a little more than that" Amity said rather thoughtfully.</p><p>"Kay" Lucia said, pretending she's not touched, then got up, but as she did so, a sharp soreness coursed through her back into all the bruised spots, and she made a restrained groaning noise at it. Shit, she's the one who needs rest now.</p><p>Amity's eyes were now concerned as she fully turned her body towards Lucia "Are you okay??"</p><p>"Yeah yeah, just a little sore, ignore it" Lucia was still a little hunched over, but simply clenched her jaw and straightened her back, rolling her shoulders. Amity furrowed her eyebrows in slight distrust, but nodded anyway, wich Lucia is thankful for. The last thing she wants is some kid getting worried about her "I'll be off of your tail now" But just as she was about to say her goodbyes, Amity's voice made her stop.</p><p>"Wait- i- " Amity then cleared her throat, trying to not sound or seem nervous even though it was too late "It's still so early! A last walk wouldn't hurt" as she said the excuse, her smartness clicked and she added a small tease "If your sore bones can still take it i mean". </p><p>She felt bad saying it right after seeing Lucia is still bruised, it was a selfish thing to do, but the comment had the desired effect as Lucia frowned and sneered, eyes sparking at the prospect of having someone doubting her, like a challenge.</p><p>"Old bones my ass, i can take you and your family if i want" she hissed and walked past Amity, who sighed with relief and hurried to catch up.</p><p>Amity had been filling Lucia with some information about wherever they passed by, it was kinda entertaining to say the least, so Lucia humored her enough even if she wasn't really listening.</p><p>"That building right there is the bank" she pointed.</p><p>"Cool, let's rob it" Lucia said and abruptly turned to walk to the bank's direction.</p><p>"What- Lucia no!" Amity eeped and hurried to grab the laughing Noceda by the arm, trying to drag her back to their previous route.</p><p>"Just this once!" Lucia resisted a little just to mess with Amity, wich was hilarious because the poor kid didn't seem to realize she was joking.</p><p>Amity scolded her for a solid minute while Lucia grinned like an idiot, they just kept on walking, avoiding the shady areas of the neighborhood and having conversations about different topics.</p><p>"What does this has to do with abominations?" Lucia deadpanned.</p><p>"That's literally the base".</p><p>"Oh".</p><p>Amity facepalmed "Have you been listening to the classes at all?"</p><p>Lucia then had vietnam flashbacks about her and Amelia bickering in the middle of the class and just being unhelpful to each other, with feelings of war and dread tearing the entire space and time between them and making life harder at the same time it splits into meaningless dust since all of it is only nothing but a thought among the many mysteries of the universe that craft down into a single thin line of-</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>Amity shook her head in disapproval.</p><p>They ended up wandering into the woods through a path that was probably made to make it easier for people to cut distance, Amity was a little more talkative than she usually is, but still relatively reserved. They only passed by a couple strange demon people on their way, Lucia didn't mind enough to glare, there was no need to, things were fine and quite peaceful even, until her back started acting up again, the sore muscles never stopped aching of course, but the mere exercise of walking for minutes was making it more difficult than it had to be, even if her legs were the part of her body that were actually working.</p><p>"H-hey, kiddo" she stopped walking and raised her hand to indicate she wanted Amity to wait "Let's sit down for a bit".</p><p>"Oh- sure!" Amity said.</p><p>Lucia moved away from the path and stopped at a spot with short, clean orange grass and basically laid down on her back like someone passing out, she closed her eyes and took a deep sigh as a sharp sting shot through her muscles, but soon fainted, she felt like she wanted to sleep or not get up, ever, maybe Luz and Eda had a point.</p><p>"Lucia?" Amity called in concern, she kneeled down beside her friend, not knowing what to do with her hands "I-i'm sorry! I shouldn't have made you push yourself, i didn't know you needed that much recovery- are you okay?".</p><p>Lucia cracked an eye open and pouted a bit "I'll live" then she stared up to the sky, being able to do so due to how cloudy it was today "Just give me a minute".</p><p>Feeling a bit thrown back by Lucia's calm demeanor, Amity stopped fussing over her and just sat down on the grass beside the human, not saying anything and not knowing if she should.</p><p>"Do you always do that?" Lucia suddenly broke the silence, without taking her gaze from the sky.</p><p>"What?" Amity said, turning her head to look at her.</p><p>"Study until your brain crashes".</p><p>Pretty straightforward.</p><p>"I don't- " she was about to refute, but just sighed and gave up "Mainly before tests and exams" said Amity "It's not easy to reach the top, or stay there".</p><p>Lucia waited for some time until she spoke again, taking in Amity's words "Do you <em>have</em> to be on the top?"</p><p>"Of course i do" Amity replied "If one day i want to get in the emperor's coven, i need to be the best of the best, i want them to notice me and my potential, thought that would be obvious".</p><p>Lucia hummed "Getting that drained is not cool tho".</p><p>"Maybe" Amity said "But does it even matters? As long as i get the right outcome, it's worth it".</p><p>Now Lucia was looking at her, even turning her head and frowning a bit as her instincts insistently poked her. Lucia doesn't know why she feels compelled to say these things to Amity, why she bothers so much since she's not her responsibility, but something just keeps telling her to try, and it's something she can't ignore.</p><p>"<em>Don't</em> say that" she spoke firmly "You matter, and believe me, it's not worth it".</p><p>Amity adopted a more defensive position, bending her legs in front of her chest and resting her arms on her knees "Not everyone thinks the same".</p><p>Lucia rested a hand on her own belly and eyed Amity's features "Must be a lot of pressure".</p><p>Amity shrugged, turning to lock eyes with her friend, she seemed to stop and think for a moment, that's something they did a lot, halt and take a few seconds to form what they really want to say.</p><p>"It's pressure that turns coal into diamonds".</p><p>"And dough rises when you let it rest".</p><p>Both of them couldn't help but smirk at each other, they keep doing this, Amity says something that disregards herself and Lucia throws some wisdom out of nowhere, the Noceda has been considerate so far, but things are not so simple, Amity has responsibilities, places to go, goals to achieve, and that reminder was enough to make her smile fall.</p><p>"It's not that easy… " Amity said in a low tone, averting gaze "Failing is not an option, Lucia. I'd rather not risk. I mean- it's hard sometimes, but i'm used to it".</p><p>Lucia understood what she meant "We all end up being forced to get used to something we shouldn't have to, it sucks".</p><p>"Mhm" Amity acknowledged "What forced you to be so alert?"</p><p>Lucia's eyes became distant, and almost sorrowful as she answered with a single word.</p><p>"People".</p><p>They both understand how that is.</p><p>"Is there any other reason why you were so upset?" Lucia asked, neither one of them looked at each other as they had this conversation.</p><p>"I had a discussion with my parents. They got mad at me".</p><p>"And what do they do when they're mad?"</p><p>That hit Amity a bit too close, and she showed visible discomfort, Lucia seemed unafraid to ask about this kind of thing, and at the same time, careful.</p><p>"We argue, it doesn't happens often".</p><p>Lucia hummed, but didn't stop watching Amity. With her muscles feeling a bit better, she slowly sat up, and deciding she had enough of the gloomy mood between them, she dug her hand into Amity's hair and messed it up.</p><p>"Argh-! Lucia!!" Amity shouted as she lost her balance and had to place a hand on the floor in order to not fall.</p><p>With a shit eating grin, Lucia quickly got up and started running, Amity blinked but quickly took the invitation and chased after her, like they were two children playing tag. It didn't last long, since Amity started feeling her stamina decrease and used her magic instead, she drew a circle, summoning an abomination a few meters in front of Lucia, the abomination did nothing but just stand there in her way.</p><p>Lucia didn't had enough time to stop and bumped into the thing, to make a combo, Amity miscalculated when planning ahead and crashed into her friend right after. Lucia fell on her stomach with an "oof!" while Amity fell on top of her back, only adding to the human's fall, wich agitated some of the orange leaves on the ground.</p><p>"Not- " Lucia wheezed out of air, blowing away a leave that fell on her nose "Fair!".</p><p>Amity was giggling way too much to take her seriously, she crossed her arms on top of Lucia's beanie and placed her chin on it.</p><p>"Do you mind??" Lucia asked in annoyance, looking back and barely being able to see the kid on top of her.</p><p>"Nope".</p><p>"But i do" she teased. Lucia simply lifted her torso while abruptly tilting it to the side, causing Amity to roll down onto the ground, she then got up while Amity had fallen on her butt.</p><p>It was a fun moment, and despite wearing a smug smile, Lucia offered a hand.</p><p>Everything seemed to stop for a moment, and in the few seconds she got to look at Amity, she realized a familiar feeling washing over her, it was comfortable, and it had been slowly fading a while ago, but now the hole seemed to have been refilled in a way, in a way that is not permanent, and not the way it used to be, but Lucia embraced it and let herself be fooled, just for now, she missed it. Amity's eyes tell her that she had something similar going on, and they both silently agreed to let themselves be fooled.</p><p>Amity took her hand, letting Lucia hold it firmly and pull her up, well... more like yank with so much force Amity nearly stumbled forward. She's starting to think this woman could easily dislocate her or anyone's shoulder, like she either didn't realize her own strength or did it on purpose just to mess with her friend. Lucia's mannerism tends to be a bit brute sometimes, wich is no surprise, but that's okay, if Luz survived it so far, she can too.</p><p>A couple weeks ago, Amity would have been offended by any advice given by anyone but her professors, and slapped any friendly or helping hand away, specially if coming from those two humans who came into her life, actually she literally slapped Luz's hand away once, but now even that has changed, her true self slowly passing through cracks in the walls she had built, because for once, she was interacting with people who weren't constantly judging her, and genuinely enjoyed her presence for who she is.</p><p>It's new, and scary, but that's okay too.</p><p>"Did i hurt your back?" Amity broke the silence.</p><p>"You weight nothing, dumbass… " Lucia said rather ironically since she was rubbing her lower back.</p><p>She ended up sitting down again, but this time just to catch her breath, and Amity did the same. The small rush of playfulness finally quieted down, and they were left with nothing but each other and their own thoughts. They just stayed there, sitting beside each other in a view surrounded by the woods, and even though they just had a moment of silly distraction, the aura created by their previous conversation didn't fully leave their hearts, and Amity in particular, had something she needed to get out of her chest, she didn't want to, but she didn't know when she would have that chance again, and her mind is too tired to care about possible consequences. She spoke up in a soft, quiet voice, that somehow weighed more than a shout could.</p><p>"Lucia".</p><p>"Hm?"</p><p>"Do you ever feel like you're not enough?".</p><p>For a moment, only the sound of the leaves dancing in the wind filled the silence between them, none of them feeling the need to blurt things out in a way their words would feel empty, despite the cruel reality that twisted the moment they were having. All Lucia had the courage to do, was to place her hand on Amity's head, slowly to not scare her, and carefully pat in a way it didn't disturb the hair.</p><p>"Yeah".</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There you go, Lucia and Amity talking about things and avoiding them at the same time, but don't worry, from now on i want to get more interactions between all of them now that we got our dynamics stablished. I love all the chaos Amelia and Luz can cause, but i also like how Lucia and Amity are more on the emotional side of things.</p><p>Any thoughts?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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